I've been spending a lot of time at the gym trying to lose weight. Although I have some more work to do, I recently wrapped up a contest on June 30th. Here is the wrap up I sent out to those who assisted:
Take the first step...
A while ago I began reading The One Minute Millionaire. A quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. in the intro has stuck with me ever since..."Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase. Just take the first step."
Too often in life we try to "see the whole staircase" or listen to all those who tell you that "you can't do that or it's destined to fail (sometimes that voice is even internal)" and ultimately fail to do the most important thing...take the first step and have faith in your abilities.
In December I started a Biggest Loser contest not knowing what all would happen. I kind of threw it together and ended up being the lone participant battling myself. But I took a step and on June 30, 2008 I was 84 pounds lighter!!!
I also learned from The One Minute Millionaire that you need a solid team around you to be successful. Thanks to all of you, "My Team," for keeping me on task and continuously providing accountability and a purpose. It was that accountability and purpose that ultimately kept me motivated.
But as most of you know I always have a bigger project in mind when I do these things and I still am a work-in process along these lines as well. So I decided to, you guessed it, take another first step.
I am publicly and officially launching The Lose It For Good Network today. Do I know where the final staircase will lead? Not a chance. But I didn't in December either. I don't want to throw out too much now (just to keep you intrigued), but the idea is to create a network that links charity, volunteerism, and weight loss in a similar fashion to how I did it. I knew I had to do it first though...so again thanks for your help. I'll keep you posted as things progress, but ultimately I want to lose 1 million pounds as the Mahoning Valley and raise 1 million dollars for local charities.
I was once told "a goal isn't high enough until someone laughs at it." A few people laughed when I said I was going to lose 100lbs...well I'm only 16 away. I hope a few people laugh at the "millionaire" goals as well!!!
But enough about that for now...it's late and I have to work and do a bar crawl tomorrow (by the way cheating is the most important thing you can do in weight loss - cheaters do prosper - but I'll expand on those things that I learned down the road - Bar Crawl was awesome btw). So let's wrap up the latest contest. I realize that 84`pounds was a little more than most of you imagined so I will except flat donations as well (I eased off at the end for all of you - that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it - ha!).
We raised over $1,000 for the Young Philanthropist Fund!!!
A while ago I began reading The One Minute Millionaire. A quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. in the intro has stuck with me ever since..."Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase. Just take the first step."
Too often in life we try to "see the whole staircase" or listen to all those who tell you that "you can't do that or it's destined to fail (sometimes that voice is even internal)" and ultimately fail to do the most important thing...take the first step and have faith in your abilities.
In December I started a Biggest Loser contest not knowing what all would happen. I kind of threw it together and ended up being the lone participant battling myself. But I took a step and on June 30, 2008 I was 84 pounds lighter!!!
I also learned from The One Minute Millionaire that you need a solid team around you to be successful. Thanks to all of you, "My Team," for keeping me on task and continuously providing accountability and a purpose. It was that accountability and purpose that ultimately kept me motivated.
But as most of you know I always have a bigger project in mind when I do these things and I still am a work-in process along these lines as well. So I decided to, you guessed it, take another first step.
I am publicly and officially launching The Lose It For Good Network today. Do I know where the final staircase will lead? Not a chance. But I didn't in December either. I don't want to throw out too much now (just to keep you intrigued), but the idea is to create a network that links charity, volunteerism, and weight loss in a similar fashion to how I did it. I knew I had to do it first though...so again thanks for your help. I'll keep you posted as things progress, but ultimately I want to lose 1 million pounds as the Mahoning Valley and raise 1 million dollars for local charities.
I was once told "a goal isn't high enough until someone laughs at it." A few people laughed when I said I was going to lose 100lbs...well I'm only 16 away. I hope a few people laugh at the "millionaire" goals as well!!!
But enough about that for now...it's late and I have to work and do a bar crawl tomorrow (by the way cheating is the most important thing you can do in weight loss - cheaters do prosper - but I'll expand on those things that I learned down the road - Bar Crawl was awesome btw). So let's wrap up the latest contest. I realize that 84`pounds was a little more than most of you imagined so I will except flat donations as well (I eased off at the end for all of you - that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it - ha!).
We raised over $1,000 for the Young Philanthropist Fund!!!
As far as the details, hints, and what exactly I did to lose weight...well I'll save most of that for the next endeavor. But here's a few things to wrap up this one with:
Challenge yourself...I was dead tired after walking a half hour in December. On June 30th, I was flipping 400lb tires, swinging sledge hammers at tires, and a few other crazy things at one of my new workout partners - The IronMan Warehouse (http://www.ironmanwarehouse.com/ - check out the videos). You'd be surprised what you can do when you push yourself.
Cheat...going too hard at it for too long actually is counter productive and leads to more chances that you will break away. Cheating, spaced out throughout a plan, helps curb cravings and helps your body continue to adjust and burn those calories!
Eat breakfast every day...I did...every day.
Don't eat late at night. I may not have eaten as healthy as I could have, but 90% of the time I ate my last meal before 6pm.
Drink tons of water...I probably drank 16 cups a day.
Find a purpose...if being healthy and adding years to your life was enough of a purpose, everyone would be healthy. It has to be something that drives you. This time, the contest and raising money worked for me.
Set small goals...I remember when I weighed in at 369.5, weights of 320, 299, 282.5, etc. and June 30th seemed so far away. So I just needed to get to the 350s, then the 340s, then the 330s, which got me to the 320s, and now I'm closing in on 300. You get the picture. Looking at the larger goal can be overwhelming at times. Set a series of small goals and hit them.
And most importantly, find a support system that will help you, inspire you, and hold you accountable (Thank you again!!!), as well as someone who will push you when you need it. Kind of like my old football coaches or Jillian from the Biggest Loser - so I hired her (not really - her online program, http://www.jillianmichaels.com/).
Well, that's it for now. I'll close with the poorly constructed before and after picture below. A great start, but more work to do. But we took the first step. I can't wait to see where the staircase leads us.
Thank you for your support. Until next time......
Mike
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