Everything starts at the beginning. When life gets challenging during the middle, remember you can always start over, make a fresh start and head in a positive direction.

Congratulations to Robin Boland, the winner of The Laughing Cow ReShape Your Health Contest!  As part of your winning entry you wrote, “It’s time to set a solid, consistent example for my […] teenager. It’s time to show that with perseverance anything is possible.” This attitude will help you achieve your goals of losing 15 pounds, while helping to encourage your daughter to take her health and fitness seriously.

I cannot prescribe for you meal plans because I’m not a nutritionist (though I have dabbled with the idea of a nutrition program). I cannot prescribe for you the workouts that will specifically take you from the beginning to your ultimate goals because I am not a certified trainer (though I have studied through the NSCA). That being said, I know exactly what it takes to lead a healthy lifestyle. I have a tool box filled with items such as: Recipes, workouts and motivation. But my healthy lifestyle tool box has been made complete throughout the years due to my commitment and passion for food, fitness and health!

With this, here are a few tips, tricks and ideas to get you going:

1.       Attitude. Attitude is a tricky one to master. It’s cliché to say that it’s “all in the attitude,” but unfortunately – or fortunately – it’s the truth. With attitude comes a choice. You can choose to be excited about a healthy lifestyle, or you can choose to stay on a more negative path with life. A positive attitude means you will be forward-thinking; you will see your ultimate goal, instead of thinking it’s not attainable. It’s easy to have a negative attitude when the weather is less than optimal, you’ve had a bad day at work or life throws you a curve ball. But those are the times that you will benefit from a simple attitude transformation which sounds like, “It might be raining out, but I’m not going to sit on the couch and eat all evening. Instead, I’m going to head to the gym with my daughter and enjoy a healthy meal afterward with my daughter.”

2.       Support Group. One key to my success is that I am constantly surrounding myself with other healthy lifestyle people. This happens in my offline life with friends and family, encouraging them to be healthy and cognizant of choices made. It also happens with my husband. We make it a point to go to the gym together probably 4-6 times per week, and enjoy activities that are outdoors and active (hiking, biking, walking, skiing/snowboarding and more). This also happens in my online life with various people and groups like The Laughing Cow Facebook and Twitter Communities, an assortment of blogs and my own networks (check out the #DailyJoy). No matter what your support group consists of, if you don’t have already, I strongly urge you to have them in order to keep motivated on your journey!

3.       Find Your Passion. It doesn’t matter which piece of food, fitness or health you become passionate about, but find something and act upon it. This will most definitely take practice and patience, trials and errors. But you will find something that makes you excited and passionate. Over time, you will develop more and more. It will become addicting. This addiction leads to a perfectly healthy lifestyle!

Remember, Robin, everything starts at the beginning! Today can be the first day of the rest of your life. Plan for today so that you can lead the way to the healthy lifestyle for not only your daughter and family, but also for you. You deserve it!

I’m always here listening, as part of your support group, should you have any questions!

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