This week’s winner was Janice Watson, who lost 3.2 lbs. Only Myla posted a bigger loss, but it was over the last two weeks due to illness. Janice told me she wanted to lose weight “to feel healthier” and “look better.” She also wants to be able to keep up with her children.
According to Janice, her life will change for the better because she’ll “feel better about herself” knowing that she “stuck it out.” And that’s the real trick, isn’t it? Sticking it out.
Our Biggest Losers have completed 10 weeks and have just two weeks left in the contest. We’ve done pretty well—out of 21 that started, we still have 19 going pretty strong. Just the fact that they started impresses me. You know how hard it is to get started, especially an exercise program, or changing eating habits.
Once they do start, most people will do well for awhile, but then, something changes. Life intrudes. Old habits are revisited. Conflicts arise. People just start getting tired of making the effort; tired of getting up earlier to exercise, and denying themselves things they like.
Here’s where the danger lies. If their goal isn’t important enough to them, they’ll revert back to what they’ve done the most—and the way things used to be.
I was just talking with one of our members who lost 80 pounds last year. Then he quit trying. He told me he just got lazy. Basically, he quit exercising, went back to his old eating habits, and put most of the weight back on.
Losing weight and staying trim has to be a way of life. You have to eat right every day. And since we eat every day, we need to be active every day. Not just so I can make a living, but so you can feel better. So you can lower your risk of heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, and all those other things that can happen to you.
This is self defense at its most basic level. If you don’t take care of yourself, you’ll start to fall apart. But if you keep exercising, you’ll have more energy and start trimming down again. And if you keep eating better you’ll feel better. Your body will even work better. But it’s an ongoing process. You still have to do it.
It’s O.K. to miss a workout now and then, or eat some cookies or chips once in awhile. Once in awhile I’ll even have a pop (the horror), some brownies, or even a chocolate milk shake. I know that if I’m working out that day, I’ll just burn it for fuel during the day.
That’s the real bonus at the end of this journey. Once you’re where you need to be, you get to eat what you want, because you’ll just burn it, as long as you eat it in moderation. And because you’re working out, you’ll feel so much better and be able to do so much more.
Our contestants are coming up on a decision. In two weeks, do they stop and go back to their old ways, or do they press on until they reach their goal? Do they keep what gains they’ve made, or do they get into that age old yo-yo cycle that traps so many people?
I’m hoping they choose to keep pressing on. The rewards of trimming down are priceless. Just watch the Biggest Loser next Tuesday night on TV, and then the finale the following week. Regardless who wins the cash prize, they’ll all be winners. Their lives are transformed. How about yours?
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