What I am really amazed at, and had no expectation of getting this result, is that my Parkinson’s symptoms are diminishing, my right hand trembles less, and I can actually write legibly again…

Sorry if some of this sounds redundant to you, I am sure it is, but be patient with me please…some of this progress still seems unreal to me and I am in such amazement, that I keep wanting to talk about it.

If paying attention to your diet, excercising and getting healthier can do these things for me, imagine what they can do for you!

I don’t care what program you use, I don’t care what company or who or where you get it, I just want to keep encouraging my friends to get fit, get healthy, adopt excercise as part of your daily life…You’ll be glad you did when your bouncing around like a 40 year old in your 80′s!!

It helps provide moral support and motivation while also being accountable to the other person who is counting on you to do your part.

I am humbled by Lou’s willingness to be my accountability buddy, and my exercise buddy. THANKS Lou, I won’t let you down.

For me the answer became clear over the last year and it is a glaring YES! I didn’t ask for Parkinson’s, but it chose me, so I am determined to use it to make me better. It is motivating me to get and stay fit, and to do that you have to combine exercise with good nutrition. I am determined to eliminate all artificial drugs and chemicals I can from my life…I don’t have much choice over my Parkinson’s medication BUT I can work to slow the progression of the disease and therefore keep my medication to a minimum MORE IMPORTANTLY though, is I know that I can seek out natures own nutrients to fight off heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure I don’t want to take pills which are man made chemicals to fight off these issues. I now know I can do it with natural ingredients and I am determined to take that path. SO I can enjoy every minute I can with my beautiful wife Kim, my daughter Nikki, son Justin, grand kids Savanna and Dylan, and Caden, and all of you wonderful friends, and to lead a life that doesn’t end up a burden on them.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post I have joined my friend Jason Scheff and a group of super motivated people who have banded together to form an accountability group. We are going to pick a health program, regardless of the brand or where it comes from, this isn’t about buying or selling products, it is about holding each other accountable, picking a health and wellness program, committing to it, checking in every day with your partner and holding each other accountable as we get healthy together.

So I ask all of you again…write me, pick a program, is it going to a gym, walking around the block? My commitment is to keep drinking Shakeology everyday and after finishing P90X ten days from now I am taking a few days of recommended recovery time, and on January 31 starting P90X all over again. We can do this! Lets do it together!!!
Macy

Here is a startling set of facts: After almost a year of taking DRUGS for high Cholesterol and Triglycerides My numbers were still not great. I stopped the meds cause I am tired of taking drugs and chemicals, I don’t have a choice for my Parkinson’s meds, but I want to get rid of as many pills and chemicals as I can. A friend got me started on Shakeology, so here is a side by side comparison of my numbers before and after drugs versus Shakeology:

After a year of drugs: Triglycerides 197 After 4 months of Shakeology 144

After a year of drugs: LDL (Bad Cholesterol) 115 After 4 months of Shakeology 110

After a year of Drugs: HDL (Good Cholesterol) 32 After 4 months of Shakeology 39.

I wasn’t on Blood Pressure meds and my numbers were OK around 124 over 75 range and a resting pulse of 90-94 but after 4 months of Shakeology…. 110 over 69 resting pulse, 70-75.

Did I mention weight loss? down from 237 to 205.

Then got in shape, I have ten workout days left to finish the 13 week P90X Extreme fitness program. Guess what…I flunked the fitness test that comes with the program so technically I shouldn’t have even tried P90X but I tried it and now in week 12 of 13 I am in the best shape of my life.

So to the real point. I have joined my friend Jason Scheff and a group of super motivated people who have banded together to form an accountability group. We are going to pick a health program, regardless of the brand or where it comes from, this isn’t about buying or selling products, it is about holding each other accountable, picking a health and wellness program, committing to it, checking in every day with your partner and holding each other accountable as we get healthy together.

Will you join me? write me, pick a program, is it going to a gym, walking around the block? My commitment is to keep drinking Shakeology everyday and after finishing P90X ten days from now I am taking a few days of recommended recovery time, and on January 31 starting P90X all over again. We can do this! Lets do it together!!!
Macy

Want an Excellent marriage? Commitment! Can any of you actually think of a an excellent marriage that doesn’t involve total commitment? No Way.

SO that is were I have arrived in my life in regards to my health, nutrition and fittness and what a difference that has made in my life and my fight against Parkinson’s. And how sad and silly of me to take this long to reach that realization. Once I committed to achieving excellent health and fitness my progress came in leaps and bounds. In July I committed to my nutrition and health which involved losing 36 pounds and getting in shape. In the 14 weeks since then I have lost 26 of those pounds using a product called Shakeology, which has also added energy, lowered my already decent heart pressure, and has killed my cravings for bad food. I am on a path of excellent nutrition, so now I wanted to get fit. So I started P90X, an extreme fitness program that promises to get you ripped in 90 days. at the end of week 4 I already feel transformed, and the better I feel fitness and health wise the more I want it. I want to be in excellent health and fitness, and once I committed to it it is amazing how quickly it happened. My tremers are lessening, I am regaining some dexterity in my right hand and can write and type better, and I can only credit good nutrition and good fitness for stemming the tide of Parkinson’s advancement.

I feel better than I did in my 20?s and 30?s health wise and I didn’t have Parkinson’s.

Moral? Commit to being  Excellent in Everything You Do

Don’t really remember if I made that up or saw it written somewhere, it doesn’t instantly resonate with everyone, but the more it runs around in my head the more I like it, the more it really speaks to me. Want to be an excellent musician? You have to be totally committed to that goal. Want to be an excellent sales proffessional? Commitment, commitment to the product, commitment to studying the craft the art, to learning the skills, and maybe most importantly, commitment to your customer.

Want an Excellent marriage? Commitment! Can any of you actually think of a an excellent marriage that doesn’t involve total commitment? No Way.

SO that is were I have arrived in my life in regards to my health, nutrition and fittness and what a difference that has made in my life and my fight against Parkinson’s. And how sad and silly of me to take this long to reach that realization. Once I committed to achieving excellent health and fitness my progress came in leaps and bounds. In July I committed to my nutrition and health which involved losing 36 pounds and getting in shape. In the 14 weeks since then I have lost 26 of those pounds using a product called Shakeology, which has also added energy, lowered my already decent heart pressure, and has killed my cravings for bad food. I am on a path of excellent nutrition, so now I wanted to get fit. So I started P90X, an extreme fitness program that promises to get you ripped in 90 days. at the end of week 4 I already feel transformed, and the better I feel fitness and health wise the more I want it. I want to be in excellent health and fitness, and once I committed to it it is amazing how quickly it happened. My tremers are lessening, I am regaining some dexterity in my right hand and can write and type better, and I can only credit good nutrition and good fitness for stemming the tide of Parkinson’s advancement.

I feel better than I did in my 20′s and 30′s health wise and I didn’t have Parkinson’s.

Moral? Commit to being  Excellent in Everything You Do

I watched a video of Carl Daikeler, CEO of Beachbody, speaking to Barbie Decker, one of the top 10 coaches he went out to visit this month… in fact, 2 trips before he came to visit me… and he asked her what is the one thing she could say to a new coach in how to share what she does to people… She thought about it for a few seconds and said, “The Belief… I believe so much in what I do…”

Carl said, “I love that answer because you’re absolutely right… Someone can go through the motions, have the right tools but they might just be pitching something… but when you look people right in the eyes and they KNOW they’re looking at someone who cares… who will TRULY be there to help them… that’s our business…”

Man, I watched that and completely related. As new coaches we all want to know how to get started… the fact we’ve turned it into a business gets people feeling a lot different than when they were simply sharing something that had changed their lives.

I have several coaches who were already selling Beachbody products, before they became coaches… just so excited about the changes they were making in their lives… sharing it, freely… people would ask them what they were doing noticing the changes… and they were selling this stuff like crazy… for some other random coach…

Because when a person sees the results, they ask what we’re doing and we tell them… without a coach, they go to the generic Beachbody website, purchase products, and some random coach gets their business… when YOU have done the work already. Plus, who knows if that coach is going to even work with them?

Those coaches who get the random, free customers are Emerald coaches… that’s just getting 2 coaches to join you in your journey to fight the battle of obesity as a Team Beachbody coach on our AWESOME team! It’s as simple as that… so the goal for you new coaches is to get Emerald, fast… let’s get some paying customers FROM Beachbody into your business while you’re learning… It’s all about getting Emerald.

So to finish that thought on what I’ve seen happen is that some coaches who are GREAT at sharing what they do start freezing up when they turn this into a business… don’t want to act like they’re a *sales person*. This was one of the hardest thresholds to cross for me but let me tell you how beneficial it is…

Before this business I’d go about my life and ONLY do the things that were easy… didn’t really want to put that much effort into things that didn’t come naturally… why would I? I had identified things that came pretty easy to me, Music, and it has taken me through my life pretty nicely…

BUT, what about the opportunities squandered? All that accessibility to the industry but boy, if I sent a song in to the labels, offices, etc. and they said NO? CRUSHED me… you see I was used to winning… and pretty early on in my life… I HATED rejection… can’t say I LIKE it at this point… but I’ve learned ONE HUGE LESSON in this network marketing business…

If I HAVE SOMETHING OF VALUE TO THE WORLD AND I KEEP IT TO MYSELF I MAY BE CREATING A LOSS AND A LEVEL OF FAILURE I’M NOT WILLING TO LIVE WITH, FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE.

I learned early on in my Team Beachbody business that when I put myself out there… dip my toe in the water by simply sharing what I’m doing in social networks… simply doing what’s asked of us… a “Status Update”, right? Oh, I’m doing Insanity Max Plyo Intervals…

People respond…

So I’m going to give you some bullet points on my beliefs… ok? I’m going to give you the timeline on how this business has helped me grow in my personal life and how it’s starting to grow professionally… yes, with Team Beachbody but also the life I’ve chosen since a kid… remember, this is a guy who wouldn’t pick the phone up to call his friends who are all the record executives now… how stupid is that? When I look around at a lot of people who have much less to offer, but pick the phone up… and they’re doing well…

Alright here goes…

I Believe…
• I know how to turn my life around, physically… on the level of Health and Fitness…
• I’m helping hundreds of other people do it for themselves.
• What I offer is EXTREMELY inexpensive. When I look at the cost of gym memberships, trainers, bad food, the cost of medicine, health insurance… what I have to offer is a steal.
• I earn extra income by helping people turn their lives around, health, fitness and financially.
• I now have the confidence to sit next to people like Akon on an airplane and share what I do with him. Watch him get excited while I tell him my journey. That ONLY came from trial and error of sharing what I do with people, learning how to share without making it about what *I can get* out of the situation. But most importantly, I’m not intimidated any more. I know what I have and I know how great it is, so I share, freely.
• I now have the confidence to speak freely with people like Brian Wilson and Peter Frampton because I know what I have. I have music that helps them and I’m not afraid to hold my head up and extend my hand.
Now some of you may think, “Well, Jason’s involved in all this high profile stuff, he’s used to it, he deserves to be there, he’s put in his time…” Well my friends, the point is until I started working on myself and realizing what I have there was ALWAYS this level of tentativeness and feeling like maybe I wasn’t completely on the level with these people… and it took this silly, crazy little side business to show me…

If I HAVE SOMETHING OF VALUE TO THE WORLD AND I KEEP IT TO MYSELF I MAY BE CREATING A LOSS AND A LEVEL OF FAILURE I’M NOT WILLING TO LIVE WITH, FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE.

And imagine the level of disservice I’m doing… That’s the thing about our business… Team Beachbody… in the music business, or entertainment industry, the joke is always about getting over yourself… “It’s not brain surgery!”

Well, with what we have here as coaches, it IS brain surgery… it’s that important… if I’m holding back what I have who knows who might be going down the tubes…

I’ll give you one example that has deeply touched my life recently… by putting myself out there… by making an exposure one night because I was talking it all up to you people and realizing I’d better start doing it and reporting back to set the example… I ended up sharing with a guy who has become a dear friend of mine who has Parkinson’s disease…

He ends up trying Shakeology, falls in love with it… becomes a coach… starts getting better control of his writing hand… you see he was starting to learn how to write with his left hand and now is back working with his right hand… he also started P90X, has dropped somewhere around 25 lbs now since starting a couple months ago but the REAL amazing thing is there was a guy at work who was watching him and reached out…

The new guy was an insulin resistant diabetic… when you hear this guy’s story it’s so outrageous that you almost can’t believe it… but I was there with a lot of his co-workers a couple weeks ago hearing the confirmation of it….

This guy was on 4 types of insulin and some they couldn’t get to him fast enough… his eyesight was going… his doctor told him 8 weeks ago that the next time he’d be visiting him he’d be going blind… this man started selling his possessions… truly… he was preparing to die. Blood pressure meds, the whole 9 yards.

He made what his diabetes doctor claimed the most miraculous turnaround he’d ever seen… our boy has 6 pages of doctors results in how he has turned himself around… we were at a home party and to hear this man’s story, along with my friend with Parkinson’s… all by me realizing I have to lead by example… I’m a coach… I’ve committed… I’m here to show what works, for me… and if I don’t, I’m a fraud… I’m a scam artist in a pyramid scheme… yup, if I don’t do the work, it’s all just about “What’s in it for me”. When I stood back and took it in… if I had kept my story, my journey, my tools that have helped me turn my life around, and kept them to myself, maybe our friend with diabetes would be blind right now… now please know that I’m not putting myself in this elevated place of being a saviour… but I can’t ignore the fact that when we’re delivering life changing stuff, we do have a HUGE, direct impact on what goes on many levels away from us… it’s a rippling effect. And it works in the opposite direction too… if we stay closed, everything keeps shutting down… Where are the leaders? They’re reading this email is where they are…

When that light went on for me… when I was told, “If you’re truly just reaching out trying to help another person… this business will be the easiest thing you’ve ever done…” and I get that now… because when there is NOTHING in it for me other than to reach out and try to help someone… there’s nothing at stake… no expectation… I’m not going to be disappointed when someone doesn’t BUY anything from me…

And there it is… I’m inspired right now… I just saw the absolute truth in this for me… If I’m upset that someone didn’t buy something from me, the motive is ALL wrong… do I get upset someone says they’re going to do something and don’t? Not anymore… this is not about ME, it’s about you… I have some coaches who apologize that they’re not doing more… as if it’s effecting me and I’m going to be upset… friends, you can do what you want… I have no expectations from anybody… we’re all at different places with this stuff too… some of you are incubating… some people sit there for a year… 2 years… just incubating and then WHAMMO… it happens… we’re living proof of it.

It’s all about just getting to the point where we’re not comfortable continuing on as we had been… it’s time to change… and then it does… and it only does when we realize it’s time to walk out that door and be kind to someone today… get into the PRACTICE of spreading our sunshine… not talking about our products, AT ALL… believe me, when we’re not stalking people and just being kind to them it’s amazing how many times it becomes appropriate to talk about what we’re doing…

So there it is friends… one more time… the bullet points of what I believe…
• I have the goods. I know how to turn my life around and help others do the same.
• I love people and want to help them, in whatever capacity it is.
• I’m part of a group of coaches/friends that have become the love of my life… truly, the people I’d like to spend the rest of my life with, and I will…
• WE are moving up. On an upward trajectory and THAT I want to share with the 2/3 of the country who need this, badly.
That’s my belief system… not that I’m involved in something that might be less than noble… nope, I’m on top of the world, as you are…

Thanks to an amazing group of products from a Company called Beach Body I have had remarkable success.

I am so astounded by my P90X results that I have to write this quick blog. I will be 56 in a week and have been battling My friend Jason Scheff got me going on Shakeology and urged me to get healthy and fit again. I started Shakeology in the middle of July 2010 and lost 7 pounds the first 3 days on the kick start. I started getting back into cardio shape using treadmills and light weights and in early October, again encouraged and inspired by Jason, began P 90X. Monday will be day 22 of the 90 day program and I am already stronger, more flexible and of course lighter. I am down 24 pounds since mid July and 12 pounds from my goal of 200 pounds.

A thanks to Tony Horton also for developing such an awesome program and providing such great inspiration every day.