Welcome to Upside-Down Turtle LIFEstyle Pt 2

Now, my approach has shifted from just diet and exercise, to something that I believe is so much more powerful and long-lasting. This is what I have learned to date after helping myself through the journey – of both weight loss (not lasting) and transformation (long lasting) – and I feel like I must share with you what I have found ‘transformation’ to be:

1 – Transformation IS NOT weight loss, maintenance, muscle gain, or an increase in performance.

2 – Transformation IS a shift in mindset to living a life of personal integrity – keeping commitments to yourself. Your physical success then becomes a byproduct of your integrity mindset.

3 – There is no right or wrong, and there is no end. You are either moving forward toward transformation (keeping commitments) or backwards away from transformation (breaking commitments).

CALL TO ACTION:
If you are just starting the journey, just take on ONE commitment at a time. Master it, then take on another. If you break it, stay at the one commitment until you are confident you can keep it daily.
FOUNDATION FIVE 
Here are our ‘Foundation Five’ that we all should master – one at a time – before moving on with your fully structured transformation program:
1 – Drink an extra quart of water daily
2- Eat breakfast (or as soon as your feeding window opens)
3-Reduce processed foods till you are no longer eating any
4-Reduce sugar to less than 50g
5-Deliberately move for 5 minutes every day

These are just suggestions. Feel free to come up with one(s) that resonate with you! And remember, the focus is on the commitment, NOT the diet and exercise!!

Transformation, everyone goes through hell, but not everyone stays there. Stop tormenting yourself by reliving the pain over and over. Good people go through terrible things, but wise people know when and how to let it go. We all know that wisdom does not come easy, it often comes from painful experience. Many of us are very unwise in how we handle our pain. Like an animal that struggles in a steel trap, we worsen our wounds the way we struggle, deny, and fight against what simply, is. When we refuse to learn the wisdom of acceptance, we become our own tormentors. When we refuse to let go we suffer, yet we cannot let go of something until it has taught us what we need to learn. Letting go is a process of recognition, confrontation, acceptance, and healing. Letting go simply means not suffering any more than absolutely necessary, but just enough to expand and strengthen ourselves. Some suffering is needed to deepen our compassion, to grow, and to learn. Letting go means you have learned enough, and now have compassion for yourself. Letting go means not touching that sore spot until it is infected, and instead letting it heal. Letting go means carrying a permanent scar, but not a permanent wound. Letting go means you may have walked through hell, but come out the other side ready to make your life a heaven. Letting go means you refuse to be a victim forever, by letting one moment define the rest of your life. Letting go means you accept change, and you accept that your pain is not permanent. Letting go means you accept that you cannot take away the past, but you insist that the past cannot take away your future. Letting go means you are ready to move forward and live. Letting go means you are no longer afraid. It was always fear that held you prisoner; letting go means you are finally free.

NEW YEARS WARNING: 
DO NOT take on too many commitments at once. Your integrity is at stake here. Just one at a time. Don’t worry…you’ll get there. I promise. Slow like a turtle in a race that wins every time!

I believe in you. Now let’s make a decision and transform.