Setbacks...

Ever experienced a setback? Ever feel like you’ve lost all the ground you’ve gained, or worked hard on something only to begin the process again? I believe that at some level in our lives, we all have. How we recover and move forward from those setbacks is our greatest opportunity for victory and accomplishment.

In July 2010 I was invited to study and participate in the instructor training program for Operation Boot Camp. At that time in my fitness journey I had lost approximately 40 pounds, had taken several minutes off my timed mile, and was at the best fitness level of my adult life since serving in the Marine Corps many years ago. During that summer, I signed up for the Atlanta 13.1 half marathon and began the training runs with friends on Saturday mornings.

Something began to slip away, and it was my focus on the nutrition piece of the Operation Bootcamp success model. I was burning between 2000 and 3000 calories each Saturday so I felt justified in relaxing my focus on eating right. By the time raceday arrived in October, I had gained 14 pounds back. I felt great about accomplishing a milestone race, but knew I needed to focus on getting the weight back off. Throughout November and December, it was easy to once again lose discipline on the nutrition piece. More weight piled on.

In January and February brought injuries and more weight. As I write this, I am not far from where my journey began. My level of fitness is much higher, but my lack of focus on eating right has landed me in a place that I am not proud of. At this point, it would be really easy to slink away and bury the choices I made in more bad food and excuses. I think about that every day on my way into Bootcamp.

I’m better than that. In fact, we are all better than our setbacks. Whatever they are, we need to recognize them and then move through them or over them to win. I know for a fact that the nutrition piece of this program works, because I’ve been down this road before and proved it. I also know that the odds of me succeeding are quite high. I have the benefit of the instructor team to continue encouraging me, and the experience of what it feels like to reach my goals. That is what OBC awakened in my life, and that’s just one reason why I continue to be at camp. I’ll take it one meal and one workout at a time. The injuries will continue to heal, and the process will continue to work. Hoo-ah!