We just finished the next to the last week of the contest and we’re getting ready to wrap things up for the summer. We had 3 great groups in a row, but I think that it’s time to take a break from the contest.
Instead, I’m leaning toward giving a special workout on Wed’s and Fri’s at 5:30 where people can come in and get the same workout I do with my personal training clients. It will be a group workout and it will be tough. Level III and Level IV stuff designed to keep your body changing for the better.
I do a similar group workout called on M, W & F at noon. Basically, it’s a group of people that want to be pushed, challenged, and coached. Everyone works at their own level, but I push them all.
Everyone has an inner athlete just waiting to be discovered (even if you never were one) and that’s what those workouts are about. It’s easy to control your weight when you’re an athlete and it’s really cool becoming more athletic, and leaner and meaner.
As we move fully into those dog days of summer, here are a few thoughts. If you want to change the way you look and feel, you have to have a big desire. It takes desire to change. It’s got to be a really big desire, or it won’t stick. Another way of putting it is that the pain of doing it has to be less than the pain of not doing it. Fix your eyes on the prize or the goal.
The next thing is commitment. You have to be committed to doing it or it will simply get lost in the shuffle. There’s too much going on. Your commitment will determine how high a priority it is. If it isn’t up near the top of your list, forget it—you’ll end up quitting.
Things are so fast paced. We live in a fast food society and if it takes longer than about 3 minutes we lose interest. Our news channels have news and more news that scrolls across the screen. All to keep our interest, because they know we’re about 5 seconds from tuning out.
But it’s our commitment that matters. If you’re committed, you stay with something and figure out how to make it work. Even when it’s tough, you make it work.
Another thing you need is willingness to change. You would be amazed at how many people I hear from that aren’t happy with the way they look and feel. It’s like pulling teeth, though, trying to get them to change.
After I hear all the reasons they can’t try it my way, one of my favorite lines (which sounds kind of cocky but I don’t mean it that way) is: “so how’s that working for you?” Really. If it’s not working, why not try something different.
You also have to learn how to be intentional. You do things on purpose, for a reason, every day. You look for opportunities to intentionally do things that move you in the direction you want to go.
This is important because if you don’t, life intrudes and will always move you in a different direction. You’ve got to schedule your workouts. That’s what you do at that time, every day. Same thing with how you eat.
You also have to have a plan. A wise person once said that failure to plan is really planning to fail. Knowing you need to do something, and knowing what to do are two different things. Find someone that knows how and hook up with them. Get a mentor. Find a coach. Listen to them. Read some books. Do a Google or Yahoo search on it. But do something.
Finally, perhaps above all, you have to be consistent. Doing the same things over and over, day in, day out has great power. It’s how we get fat, or how we get thin. It comes down to what you do each day. Like the power of compounding interest, good habits add up too.
If you slip up, acknowledge it, and move on. It won’t do you any good to dwell in the past. You’ve got to be willing to forgive yourself for the dumb things (and quit doing them) and start looking ahead again.
This week’s winner was Bill Lewis—again. You may recall he lost 52.5 lbs in our Biggest Loser “3” and had been doing very well this time around—until he went on vacation for 2 weeks and put 10 pounds back on.
He’ll tell you it was because he ate too much and didn’t get enough exercise. Bill has such a way of making this simple. When he averaged 5 lbs a week I’d ask him how he did it and he said he just walks/jogs an hour on the treadmill twice a day.
It’s pretty simple, but it’s also quite a lot of work. If anyone else was complaining that they weren’t losing enough, I’d ask them if they were doing that?
After Bill got back, he took off 8 lbs last week, and this week lost an amazing 5% of his body weight, and a total of 10.0 lbs. He’s like a machine. This week he turned it up to walking 3 times a day, plus walking to and from the gym!
So far, he’s lost 33.6 lbs and with the 52.5 lbs from before, is up to a total of 86 lbs in 23 weeks. And he still has a week to go. Bill received a $15 Subway gift card from Dimond Brothers Insurance. Next week we’ll have the final results. Right now, it’s time for my run.
I’ve got this crazy desire to run a marathon on September 13th and I’m committed to getting ready. Last year I had to walk the last 8 miles due to a knee injury showing up during the race and I know I have to be intentional about my training, so each workout has a purpose.
I’m following a plan by one of the many expert marathon trainers out there (Hal Higdon). I’ve got to be consistent in my training if I want to get strong enough to do the 26 miles and hopefully avoid injuries. This week the long run is 12 miles so I’ve got to get going. See you next week!
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