Oh, this is how it starts, lighting strikes the heart

It goes off like a gun, brighter than the sun

Oh, it could be the stars, falling from the sky

Shining how we want, brighter than the sun

We all have something that we want. Whether it is weight loss, financial freedom, better relationships - we want it. We crave it. We can't imagine anything more important than our goal. We want it more than we want to breathe. Now what? It is important to want it, but it is not enough. We have to make a plan.

Where do we get a plan? Do we make our own? What happens next?

My journey was to a new me. I was classified as obese. I was tired all the time. I had gotten to the point where my clothes were not fitting. I was edging closer to my self -imposed "do not go over this size" limit. We all have one.

So I developed a plan.

Sweet soldier was gone a lot. We had four days per week of therapies and four days per week of martial arts, so needless to say, there was not a whole lot of time to go to the gym. The one thing I could control was my food, but I had to be very calculated in my approach to that food.

After doing some reading, some soul searching and some active listening to knowledgeable friends, I examined everything (and I mean everything) that I was eating. My plan became to not only change what I ate but to also control it. Did you know that eating more protein will quell the taste for sweets? It really works! I switched from donuts and Frappuccinos to Starbuck's ready-made protein boxes and ice green tea and the transformation began to happen. I didn't want the sweets. I wanted to eat healthy.

For me, it was all or nothing. I needed to take all of the bad foods out of my diet and that was my plan. The first week, it was awful. The second week, it was not so bad. The third week, it was easy!

If you are not comfortable developing a plan on your own, ask a friend or a professional to help.

Now that we have a plan, we need to implement, right?

Strength and Courage ... sby