So I’m fat again.

All the weight I lost in my last weight loss competition with Tyler Cruz, I’ve gained it all back.

I’m now back at 216lbs as of this evening.

Taking 100% Responsibility

Even though it sucks to be back in the same place weight wise as I was before I started my last weight loss challenge, I take 100% responsibility for gaining it all back.

I’ve been eating crappy food.

I’ve been drinking pop.

I’ve been snacking on junk food.

There is absolutely no “mystery” to my weight gain.

This is not like one of those situations where people say “I don’t know what happened!  I just gained the weight back!”

In my case I know exactly what happened.

And I was aware of it happening the whole time I was gaining weight and I allowed it to happen.

Why the Weight Gain?

There are several reasons for my weight gain.

First of all, the main reason for my weight gain has been a major shift in focus in my life.

After completing my last weight loss challenge on September 21st, I immediately shifted my energy away from health & fitness to my business and finances.

In October / November I also became a GIN member and a Lifewave distributor and my main focus was on increasing my monthly income.

This was a deliberate choice and I made it knowing full well that by putting all of my focus on my business income my weight loss progress would suffer for it.

Secondly, I realize now that with the weight loss challenge being over I lost my “why” for losing weight in the first place.

Meaning, my original “why” (reason) for losing weight was a short term goal of hitting my weight loss target for the weight loss challenge.

Once I achieved my goal, my focus & energy went back to other things like building my businesses.

I realize now that having no follow up goal was a mistake.

Thirdly, the weight loss plan I was following – the Bernstein Diet – did not integrate well with my regular day-to-day lifestyle.

Meaning, while I was on the plan I was totally fine following it and really liked the diet, but once the weight loss challenge was over and I reached my target weight, the energy / investment requirements for the maintenance part of the Bernstein diet just weren’t worth it to me – and neither was the price tag.

I just didn’t have the energy or desire to track every single meal I ate and to drive in every week to go to the clinic.

Even if I did, I just don’t see myself doing that for the rest of my life, so I knew it wasn’t going to work for me long term.

Those three main factors basically contributed to me going back to my crappy eating habits and the weight gain.

I knew that I needed to figure out some kind of long term healthy eating / diet plan that would integrate with my busy life but I didn’t have time to dive into anything just yet.

Instead I gave myself permission to focus on increasing my income, but I made a deal with myself that if I get back up to 216lbs I would have to come up with a solution so that I don’t go above that mark.

The single minded focus on increasing income really paid off for me, allowing me to increase my income by over 34% in the last few months since becoming a GIN member, but as my income went up so did my weight.

Weight Loss for Ultra Busy People

Finally this past week I had to set aside some time to solve my growing weight problem, before things get out of hand.

One of the first things I realized is that if I want to solve this problem long term I would need to address those three main issues that tripped me up before:

1. Weight Loss Without Total Focus – I realized that I needed to find a weight loss system that didn’t require so much of my focus like the previous ones I have done in the past.  It would have to be something that would still allow me to focus on my primary chief aim of building my businesses, while still allowing me to lose weight — even if the results may not be as drastic and quick as my previous weight loss programs.
2. A Long-Term, Strong Why – I also realized that in order to lose weight and get fit/healthy I need a long term (ideally lifelong) “why”.  Some kind of reason that goes beyond a 30 day, 90 day or 120 day challenge.
3. Weight Loss Without a Huge Time / Money Investment – The Bernstein diet I was on during my last weight loss challenge required a pretty big time commitment in terms of driving to all the appointments, preparing the meals, tracking all the meals, as well a rather large financial commitment every month.  The P90X program I was on a few years back also required a huge time  commitment (usually at least 2hrs/day).  Many of the other systems I’ve followed also required a lot of time / resources.

Those three main thing have always tripped me up with any systems for weight loss I’ve tried in the past.

Can anyone relate?

So a few days ago I sat down and started writing down the qualities of an ideal weight loss plan / system for me.

I knew that whatever it was it would have to be something that didn’t require me to drop everything I was doing in my busy life to “focus” on weight loss / health.

I knew that whatever it was, it would have to be something that provided me with a long term reason to lose weight and to keep it off and to stay healthy.

And I knew that whatever it was, it would have to be something that didn’t require a huge monetary or time commitment from me long term.

Eureka!

Immediately after writing all those things down I thought to myself “What if I could find a way to (a) lose weight (b) get healthy and (c) increase my business income, without it costing me a huge time/monetary investment?”

Is that even possible?  Of course!  Anything is possible if you believe it’s possible.

So I did a bit of brainstorming and I realized that one of the best ways I could potentially achieve this goal is if I can somehow tie my business income WITH my weight loss.

In other words, if I could somehow figure out a way in which I could GET PAID to lose weight, or at the very least have my weight loss help me MAKE MORE MONEY – then that would accomplish all of those things I wanted to accomplish.

Meaning, instead of having to choose between health/weight-loss & making money, why not do both at the same time?

There are lots of people out there who get paid to lose weight and look great.

Models, UFC fighters, bodybuilders, athletes, etc. all essentially get paid to take care of their bodies.

Now, I don’t aspire to be any of those things, but there is one other option I thought of that really made sense to me.

Since I’m TOTALLY amazed at the awesome income opportunities available with being a part of a network marketing company today in 2012, I thought to myself – “What if I can find an MLM company that offers an awesome weight loss product, become a part of that company, lose weight and then help a whole bunch of other people to do the same thing!”

I mean what a simple but awesome idea right?

All I have to do is find a great company with a great weight loss product…

… join the company and use the products to lose weight, thereby creating a success story for others to be inspired by…

… and then help others on my team to also lose weight (this would be my WHY – since I love helping people)…

… AND it wouldn’t distract me from making money in my businesses, as it would essentially BECOME one of my businesses.

In Search of an Awesome MLM

As you guys already know I’m already in two MLMs right now – The Global Information Network, as well as Lifewave.

Both are awesome companies and I love their products.

However, even though both of them have products related to weight loss, neither of them are specifically focused on Weight Loss / Cleansing / Supplements.

So I went looking for a company that does just that.

After EXTENSIVE research on a LOT of different companies with a LOT of different products, I finally found one that I absolutely love.

Incidentally, this is the first time I actually went out there LOOKING for an MLM to join – LOL.  In the past they have always found me.

This time I knew exactly what kind of product and company I wanted to find and I went looking.

Let me tell you – it’s actually not that easy to do that!

I found some good companies, with good track records, but their products sucked.  Filled with artificial sweeteners and preservatives and other junk – Yuck!

I found a few companies with decent products, but their company structure, management teams and just overall energy sucked.  So I passed on those too.

I found a few companies that had decent products and decent management, but I still wasn’t too thrilled.

And then I found a company called Isagenix.

AWESOME product line.  Totally in alignment with my beliefs.  All natural ingredients with no artificial preservatives or sweeteners.

AWESOME management.  AWESOME website.  AWESOME compensation structure.

I found a winner.

What’s more is that the company’s product line doesn’t actually focus so much on weight loss as it does on cleansing the body.

Their philosophy – which I also 100% agree with – is that if you cleanse the body of toxins and impurities, the body will naturally release excess fat.

I’ll talk about that more in future posts, but I just wanted to mention this basic fact as it’s something that REALLY attracted me to this company.

Finding an Awesome Sponsor

After finding Isagenix and deciding to go with their product/company, my next step was to find a great Sponsor to sign up under.

That was actually not easy at all.

I knew exactly the type of person I wanted to find as a Sponsor and it took me hours and hours of research to find just the right fit.

I wanted to find someone who has had enough experience in the business to be able to help / coach me and my team to success, but not someone who has too large of a team that they have no time at all for any personal attention to the people they are sponsoring.

I also wanted to find someone who was familiar with and was employing at least some of the Internet Marketing strategies available out there.

In the end I found a great sponsor and I signed up on her team as of this morning.

The Cleanse

Isagenix has a great product line that goes beyond short-term weight loss.

Which is one of the many reasons I fell in love with this company.

Once you lose the weight you want to lose, they have a lifelong maintenance program of nutritious supplements, snacks and shakes you can feel good about using long term due to the purity of their product line.

As a starting point though, the company offers either a 9-Day or a 30-Day cleanse and fat burning system.

Here is a video that provides more details:

I have ordered my 30 Day Cleanse package and will be starting my cleanse as soon as I get my products in.

If anyone would like to join me on this cleanse, and/or learn how to convert your weight loss journey into a business opportunity, I would be happy to help and answer any questions you may have and to put together a custom package for your needs.

You can find more information about Isagenix on my company site by clicking here, or just contact me with any questions.

More to come soon!