When I started this blog, I wanted to do one thing: Get healthier and show people that it is not all sunshine and rainbows when it comes to fitness and weight loss.

It's hard work. It's a slog some days.

I also wrote that I wanted to change my life. Well, after being at this whole lifestyle change thing for more than a year now, I can tell you I have needed a lot of help.

Much of that help came to a head yesterday, via the form of our very first BeWellBoston luncheon/weight loss/fitness talk.

If you've been reading my blog, you know I am a fan of #plankADay, and that I do, in fact, plank every day.

Well, what you may or may not know is that for months now I've been harassing Henry Santoro (who is kind enough to let me share air-time with him on Monday mornings during our weekly "Health with Henry" segments) to bust out just one measly plank.

Why harangue Hank to plank? Well, because it is simply one, small behavior he could change. It's one more way to get up and move during the day. And, as I have come to find out over my fitness journey, one small change leads to another, which leads to another ... suddenly, all of those little tweaks you've been doing along the way begin to equal one, giant lifestyle shift.

In her talk yesterday, Dr. Sherry Pagoto confirmed that this realization of mine is indeed true. "You have to take control of your environment," she said. Your friends, she said, and their good or bad habits make up a part of that environment.