However, I’m just a “regular guy”. I haven’t been a trainer for 20 years and I certainly haven’t taken care of myself or eaten healthy all my life—or any of my life, for that matter. I’m just like the majority of America. Well, I used to be just like the majority of America—obese and no idea how to be otherwise. It took getting scared and wanting to live to get me to realize that what I was doing was slowly killing myself. I have an ex-wife that I left because she was doing the very same thing and now, all of a sudden, I was her.

A Journey Begins

Everyone is on their own journey in life. The path people choose to go down is just that—a choice. I don’t believe that most people look at there lives as a choice. They see themselves being what they are simply because “that’s who they are.” By that I mean people commonly say things like “That’s just the way I am” or “You know how I am”. It’s a circular argument that gets you nowhere. It’s when you decide that your life is a choice that you start making decisions that get you to where you want to go.

The Trigger Point

Then there has to be a “trigger”—something that wakes you up to the reality that you are morbidly obese and if you don’t do something about it now, life will soon get very bad. For me it was not being able to get out of a chair and getting winded climbing a flight of stairs. It was my fear of working hard all my life and ending up confined to a wheelchair because of a heart attack or legs that fell apart from the stress of so much weight. Sooner or later it would all catch up to me and then it would be too late. And all the moaning and groaning in the world wouldn’t get me my health back. What’s your trigger? Do you know how to find it? What will it take to finally make you wake up like I did and realize that life is passing you by? (Jon speaks a lot about triggers in his “Mind Matters” chapter. Take these principles to heart—they can change your life.)

A Former Smoker

I used to smoke. When I quit almost 10 years ago, I told myself that I wouldn’t become one of those ex-smokers that rags on everyone about the ills of smoking. Don’t you hate those guys? They did it so now everyone should do it. Smoking kills you, don’t you know that? If I can do it, you can to? Thanks pal, excuse me while I light up.

Now I’ve totally transformed myself and I’m fighting the urge to go out and be that “ex-smoker” guy that I hate. I want everyone that’s morbidly obese to know that there’s hope without gastric bypass or cosmetic surgery. I want everyone to know that the skin really does go back to where it came from if you lose the weight slowly. You really can be healthy again. You really can be in better shape at 45 then you ever were at 25. I want to coach everyone now! I want to help as many people as possible reach their goals and be fit. That’s why I’m honored to be in Fit Over 40—it gives me a great platform from which to speak a message of hope to the other “regular guys and girls” out there.

But it doesn’t work for smokers and it won’t work for the morbidly obese. Only YOU can decide that being healthy and fit is something you not only want, but that you feel confident that you can attain. We all can talk to you until we’re blue in the face and you won’t drop a pound. I could actually live with you 24 hours a day and be on you like bees on honey and you won’t drop a pound—until you decide that it’s what you want to do FOR YOU. I look for those people, I crave those people, I want to be there for those people. It’s like watching a flower bloom. When a person decides for themselves that they’re a priority in their own lives, it’s a beautiful thing to watch. When people realize that without them, the world as they know it doesn’t exist, a new consciousness appears. They realize that they’re cheating themselves and their loved ones out of something very precious—their all.

But It’s Hard!

Make a commitment to yourself. Find the trigger that’s going to make YOU the most important aspect of your life. Realize that all is not lost, this isn’t the way you have to be until you get some disease and die a slow, painful death. You WILL live a long, healthy life and the work you get to do to attain that health is worth every minute and every bead of sweat that drops to the floor.

It’s supposed to be hard (Jon refers to this as “challenging”!) It’s the challenge that makes it great. If it wasn’t a challenge, everyone would be doing it.

You can do something great for yourself, too.

Fred Eisele is a self-proclaimed “ordinary 45 year old guy” that decided to take action on getting fit. Starting at an unbelievable 315 pounds, Fred dropped over 100 pounds of fat. His current goals include discarding 14 pounds of fat and gaining an additional 6 pounds of muscle, putting him at 210 pounds at 10% body fat!

You can reach Fred by email at fred@eiseles.net or on the web at www.eiseles.net.

Editor’s Note: To read more about Fred Eisele,
order Fit Over 40: Role Models For Excellence At Any Age today!