When I left the military, I gobbled 15 pounds pretty fast.

My recent trip to the doctor for the first time outside of the military was highlighted by the doctor’s charming comment: “You know, you’re technically obese.”

I thought for a second about the old big-boned comeback, but then my 2 kids in the room with me laughed. They have 6’s and 4’s, and it didn’t take much to push them to the limit at this point.

That was the first time they heard the word obese. The first time they called me, technically …

You’d be surprised how many new songs and rhymes kids come up with on a 15-minute drive home.

I guess going from being semi-active to sitting at a desk all day pushed me in this direction. So did the late-night eating habit that I developed while working late after the kids went to bed. I justified it by saying to myself at midnight, “I ate more than 5 hours ago!”

So here I am, now in the worst shape of my life and it has started to affect my business.

On the surface, you might not think it could. But it does, every part of your business.

From the obvious things like self image, confidence, etc. and how that correlates to how well you promote your business (which is you). For the not-so-obvious, like not having the energy to wake up a little earlier for a bit before the day starts or staying a little later to finish some things that took longer than I counted.

All this adds to damaging the bottom line of the business, the income.

And impaired income means lower income.

And lower income brings me a little closer to my wife and forces me to get a job!

So I wanted to invite all of you to take the first small steps with me to lead a healthy and fit lifestyle. Let’s do it for ourselves, our families, our business.

As members of the military community, we are no strangers to the things we must do to get fit. When I was thinner, it was 3 things. Good quality exercise, nutrition and sleep. And I like to keep things simple or I won’t.

For the exercise part, I want to touch on something that might not be so obvious. When I was younger it was about how strong I was and how I looked. Now that I’m older, this has changed. It’s more important to me to be athletic for lack of a better word. To be able to have functionality and mobility. So I’m going back to my old calisthenics and bodyweight routines. As I get older, I have lost most of my flexibility, so stretching will also be important.

For nutrition, let me tell you one thing. The months after 9/11 I was working long hours without much free time, like most of us. I turned to fruit and vegetable juices as a supplement to help me get through this. After about 2-3 weeks, I have never felt better in my entire life. I had more energy, slept better, and all aches and pains were gone. People who didn’t see me in a while said that my skin and hair looked better than ever and asked me what I was doing. So I’m going to break that old juicer one more time. You could even plug it in.

Good luck on this journey and let’s do it together!

Excuse me while I go sit down and eat a kale leaf …