THE LAST nine weeks have been anything but a bed of roses for our five Daily News From Flab to Fab Fitness Challenge participants.

Each has had his or her faith rocked and experienced a personal TKO. But, despite life's obstacles, each has triumphantly returned to the center of the ring, standing tall, ready to battle against the bulge and against personal demons.

Lifelong journey

Fitness and health are not destinations. We must keep reinvesting in ourselves if we truly want to master our bodies and maintain abundant health.

In our high-tech, give-it-to-me-now culture, we keep searching for the fountain of youth in pills, surgery and assorted hocus-pocus. But the bottom line is that your fitness and good health are largely up to you. The only thing keeping you from achieving your personal best is you.

Fitness and faith

This spring, instead of falling for the latest infomercial hype, commercial diets or diet pills, commit to eating healthy and exercising daily.

Today is the day I want you to decide how important your health and fitness are to you. Sit quietly and search your head and your heart. Do you really want to make a change? Are you committed to the process?

In many ways, a healthy lifestyle is like a spiritual discipline. To gain the rewards, we must surrender ourselves to the process.

"Until you see your health and fitness as a spiritual quest, you will always see exercise as a chore," says personal trainer King Hinton of Philadelphia. I agree. Your health is your wealth, and its value is indeed priceless.

I can guarantee you that once you commit to daily exercise and healthy eating habits you will be rewarded with the results you seek, just as our Fab Five challengers have. Measure for measure, you get out whatever you put in. That's a universal law.

Cause and effect, reaping and sowing - call it what you will, but everything comes with a price that must be paid in full and, often, in advance. Are you ready and willing to invest what you'll need to maintain your health and fitness?

Hopefully, your answer is a resounding yes! If so, remember these words from renowned opera singer Beverly Sills: "There are no shortcuts to any place worth going."

Prevention is the cure

Also, don't look for your salvation in the medicine cabinet. Modern medicine may be good at keeping us alive, but it fails at making us healthy.

If you need more evidence of this, check the latest health news. Better yet, read about the overuse of prescription drugs in "Death By Prescription," by nutrition specialist Dr. Ray D. Strand.

Plan - and act!

If you're ready, make a plan and take action. Do something daily that moves you closer to your goal.

Take the stairs. Walk the extra block. Don't go back for second helpings.

C'mon, what do you have to lose?

Once you get out of your own way, you might even surprise yourself. If you've been inactive, begin with a 15-minute-a-day walking program. As your fitness level increases, walk longer and faster.

If you are an intermediate exerciser, spice up your program. Introduce a new routine. Try a new sport.

Take the same approach to improving your diet. If you're not ready to eat more fruits and vegetables, then simply eat half of what you normally eat. You will begin to see positive changes.

Isn't each day a gift, filled with miracles and surprises? Don't you deserve the best health and fitness? The best way to achieve that goal is through a daily commitment to exercise and healthy eating.

Let's exercise our faith in ourselves and get in the best shape we can, so we can face head on whatever life throws our way.