The first time we did this challenge we started at 96 BPM (beats per minute). The winner ended up at 184 BPM and 34 minutes. This time I started it at 126 BPM. The top three finishers were Mary, Tracie and Josh, and the winner was Mary. She stepped for 40 minutes and at her final BPM of 200 or 2 minutes. Great job to all!
Two weeks ago, our challenge was not to schedule a sporting event for the challengers, but to get them in their own worlds and begin to deal with their everyday lives without supervision. It was a challenge that the average person could not complete. Just look at how many people start in January at a health club and by February 90% of them are gone. At Parker’s Place and as part of the Weight Loss Challenge we emphasize Life-Style Change, not weight loss. We understand that weight change is a byproduct of life changes. We knew that after the last two weeks we would be able to tell who the real life changers were and who were not.
Over these last two weeks many of the challengers came in and got a lot done, but some did not. I also saw some of them go through a tremendous amount of soul searching and dealing with problems that would have still been there even at the end of the 6 months. I saw some start out with good intentions and end up just as they started if not worse. Some say that after three months a person can make life changes. As this goes to show you, unfortunately some do not. The attempt was there but in the end for some of them, their old life won out.
Changing one’s life is a long hard process and it starts with the person whose life needs to be changed. They need to want to change and not just emotionally but through a process of logical reasoning. In this process, their old life and its problems become magnified and what would have seemed small a few months ago becomes even bigger while going through this process. New temptations begin to creep up and old issues begin to surface again crying out for the attention they need. What do you do? When life gets hard we tend to run away from those things that in the long run can help us and try and find that comfort zone we used to be in again (good or bad).
One of the biggest problems the challengers have had is food control. I have been baffled on how to help them through this trial. Then one day a member told me that “If you focus on something, you empower it. It becomes all consuming.” This makes sense. Think about it, if you tell yourself that you will not eat this or will not eat at a certain time, what ends up happening is you begin to set yourself up for ultimate failure. Why, because you are thinking about it. However, if you focused your energies on some other thing or project the time would fly by and would have forgotten about eating during that time.
Now I am going to give you my conclusion on how to make life changes regardless of who you are and where you are at this time of life.
1) Plan your goals, little ones. Baby step.
2) Make a plan to get there and stay with it. Do not let excuses deter you from achieving.
3) Focus on the final prize, whatever that may be.
4) Do reward yourself for little success but remember to strive for your final destination
5) While going through the process of achieving your goals, think about all of those negative influences and begin the process of getting rid of them. (Even if it is people in your life)
6) Do not settle for second best or just making it. Instead, always strive for your best effort. Ask yourself a question in the end, “Could I have done better? Could I have gotten to this place sooner (whatever that place is)? Did I really do my best?”
7) If you can answer “yes” to #6, you are not settling for second best and you did do your best.
8) Once you achieve that goal then don’t quit. Set new goals and achieve them. This is what makes life fun and worth living.
I have said this before and I will say it again. Weight Loss is not a goal. Weight Loss is a byproduct of you achieving goals. Goals are such things as:
• Reduction of medications
• Running not for the first time but faster than the previous time
• Getting better at a specific sport
• Being able to physically do things that you were not able to do before( i.e. bad knees, bad back, bad joints, etc)
These goals are not weight loss itself. As you work to achieve your goals your weight will decrease until you are at the peak of your conditioning. Stay in it guys, don’t quit. You can do anything you put your mind to doing. Yes, it may be hard at first but nothing worthwhile is easy.
Special thanks goes to the 2008 class (Matt, Kathy, Sue, Donna, Craig, Nicole)and Jodi for coming alongside the 2009 class for that two week period and holding them accountable. You guys did a great job.
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