I like having options do you? I'm not really talking about anything in particular just in general. 

Senior year of high school I had this friend named Steven. Steven was bright, talented and dedicated to his academics. I remember one time in English class Steven was haggling with the teach to change his grade from a 97% to a 100% because he didn't think something was fair.

You may not know this about me but I do a lot of reflecting. I am often reflecting on past mistakes, things I've said, things I've done wondering why I did what I did.

One in particular stands out to me as one of my biggest I've ever made and one I'll never repeat. The funny thing (if you can even call it that) is that it wasn't until years later that I had even realized I had made a mistake.

I posted about this a little bit on my Facebook LIKE page but the topic has been so engrained in my head lately that I feel the only way to get it out is to share my thoughts with you here. 

I've been in the health & fitness field for many years now and I notice a ton of trends, myths, common mistakes and even common opinions. 

One common opinion I hear all the time is "fast food is poison," "McDonalds is the devil," "you'll get cancer if you eat that Big Mac" and the list goes on. Now I'm not here to argue any of these points because if we boil it down to the REAL PROBLEM, none of these things even matter.

90% of people who ask me for fitness advice always ask me how to "get" a 6 pack. 9 out of 10 of those people who hear my advice glaze over, fade off and generally stop listening. Why? Well probably because they don't like my answer. 

Why would they not like my answer? Because I'm not telling them anything new. I'm simply reinforcing what they already know but are unwilling to do.

I'm a big fan of setting goals. I think when you're as into health and fitness as I am, you have to be. That being said, what I want to share with you isn't specific to health and fitness but to any goals you have. 

The problem I found with most systems for tracking and setting goals were that they didn't allow me any room for error. Not only that, but the way they wanted me to track my goals and build new habits had me reaching far outside of my attention zone. After literally years of setting goals - FAILING, setting new goals - FAILING AGAIN I had to create a system that worked for me.

"What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals." - Henry David Thoreau

There's no pain like it, relationship pain. I don't often share about my relationships on my blog because there hasn't much to share. I'm single, not exactly news worthy. I'm picky, which means I'm single for long spouts of time. I'm shy, which means although I'm outgoing on the outside it takes a miracle for me to make the first move. Not exactly a great recipe for relationship success but it's the truth and it's where I'm currently at. 

I'd like to share with you a story I don't think I've ever shared with anyone and it's one of my earliest memories. Looking back now it's the earliest memory I can remember of someone saying something to me that not only do I remember, but has also impacted me even until this day. 

It's the title of this blog... ONCE.

Meal planning has always been an obstacle for me but if you're serious about getting those chiseled abs you're going to have to jump in the ring at some point. There's really now way around it. Some weeks I'm on point, but for the most part my meal planning really is fly by the seat of my pants. 

Want to know an easy recipe I used to help me through the process? 

So I did it, I completed the 21 Day Fix Extreme program and I am so proud of myself. It's only 3 weeks but it just seems as I get older it's harder and harder for me to commit to things. Maybe I'm developing that "can't teach an old go new tricks" thing. It's not that old dogs (people) can't learn, it's that they are just too damn lazy. I hope I'm not developing that habit.

So here are my results...