BIGGEST LOSER "6' WEEK FIVE

Week Five has come and gone and I’m still waiting for the other shoe to drop. We started with 60 people and still have 59 people participating.

The usual dropout rate bothered me so much that I made a big deal about it in Week One. We covered all the things that come up, like getting sick, injured, other conflicts, and even disappointment due to failed expectations.

I’ve found that if people make it through week eight, they’ll stick to the end. So we’ve got two to three more critical weeks. If they can focus on the big picture and their long term goals, I think we’re in for a very strong finish.

Focusing on your goals instead of your distractions is always a good strategy. Things are always going to come up. Life will always intrude, no matter what you’re trying to do.

When it does, you’ve got to sit back, and take a deep breath. If you just hang in there, the distractions are going to come and go. The important thing is to remember where you’re going.

It’s like the wagon train that rolled through town back in the frontier days. Everyone would get all excited, and the dogs would yip and yap and run around trying to nip at the wheels. Sooner or later, the dogs would get tired of yapping. You can’t let the little things distract you.

I experience that even now, with real dogs when I’m out running. They defend their territory and make lots of noise, but if you keep on going, sooner or later, they get tired and turn back.

There are several participants that have been sick in the last couple of weeks, but they’ve taken pains to let me know they’re still in the game. This is exactly the attitude that will make them successful.

We have a gal that was also in Biggest Loser “2.” We’d just gotten started when she fell down seriously injuring her wrist. She said that in the emergency room, she was more upset about not being able to workout then the actual injury.

It took her a year to recuperate, and she still doesn’t have full function in her wrist. So instead of doing pushups, she does more body squats. That’s a woman who’s going to get what she wants.

It’s that kind of inner drive I’m talking about. You need to cultivate it and learn how to use it. Figure out what you want and make a decision that nothing’s going to keep you from getting it.

Come up with important reasons why you need to do it. Those reasons have to be strong enough to outweigh the pain you’re going to experience along the way.

If it’s to drop 40 pounds, then you have to make up your mind that that’s what you’re going to do. One way or another you’re going to do it. It’s coming off. Even if it takes a year. Even if you have to slow down for one of life’s distractions, you’re going to do it.

If you get knocked down, you get right back up. You might be a little wiser, a little smarter for the experience, but you get back up. This is the stuff that success is made of.

I tell people the reason they made me a “Master” of martial arts a couple years ago was not because I was the best student or instructor (although I’m no slouch either). It’s because I never quit. I just outlasted everyone. Twenty seven years later, I’m still doing it. Do something long enough and you’ll go a long way.

Sometimes I’ll overhear people talking about someone working out at the gym… “she’s so thin.” Well yeah. She’s walked two miles a day for years, plus weights three times a week. What do you expect?

If you’ve been waiting to get in gear this year, you better quit waiting and make a decision to get going. A twelve of your new year is already gone. Before you know it, it’ll be summer. Then Christmas, and another year will pass you by.

Don’t let this happen to you. Make a decision and take some action. And then take a lesson from our latest group of Biggest Losers, and keep at it.

Our winner this week was Shawn Bowers, who stepped it up big-time to lose 3.0% of his body weight and a crazy 8.1 lbs, knocking Bill out of the top spot. He’d said that someone needed to step up and do it. That someone was him!

Shawn’s preparing for a mini-marathon and ran 8 miles last weekend. He won a $20 Wal-Mart gift card from our friends at Terry Elston State Farm Insurance and also a 30 minute massage from Bridgett’s Therapeutic Massage.

Second place went to Tim Meyers, who finally found his stride this week, losing 2.1% of his body weight and 5.3 lbs. Third place went to Bill Lewis, who still lost 2.0% of his body weight and a respectable 4.4 lbs.