Forgetting the Past...Pressing Toward the Goal!

We were ALL inspired Tuesday by former Olympians! From the very 1st Olympics way back in 776 BC where the runners would push through the finish line, looking only at the prize...a laurel wreath, to Eric Liddell of "Chariots of Fire" fame, who fell in a race and got back up to cross the finish line first, and finally Wilma Rudolph who had a tragic childhood and chose to forget what was behind and press on toward the gold medal prize...three of them to be exact!

To put our Tuesday gatherings message in three simple sentences...here's what I said in a nut shell!

~You won't win the race if you've taken your eyes off the prize!
~If you've fallen down or been pushed down...GET BACK UP!
~Forget what's behind and press on toward the goal to win the prize!

We've got 36 days to go in these Summer games...A lot can happen in 36 days, and a lot WILL happen for those Olympians who make a decision and strain for the finish line in these last 4 weeks!

We heard from "Glenlock" as she encouraged us to improve our coping skills. She helped us understand more about anger, grief and forgiveness! Powerful words from our adorable mascot! Thank you Glenda.

Congratulations to our winning teams of the week! 'Heavy Medals' took the win at noon with a 1.82% of weight loss. Congratulations to Brent and Chris! You two have been doing a great job even with all your travels! At our evening gathering 'Skinny Up' took the prize again! Jessica and Tony won for the day with a 2.93% of weight loss! I've been so inspired with your "all in" attitudes! You came to this challenge with determination and made a decision to be 100% on program, and it shows! Thanks for leading the way!

YOUR CHALLENGES FOR THE WEEK: As we continue to work on the CD series each week, I challenged our group to listen to week # 5 this week. "Exercise and Weight Loss ~ It's a Math Problem." Everyone is expected to come next week prepared to share their maintenance calories with us!

For an additional ticket in the drawing this week, I challenged our Olympians to post on face book. Here are the topics to write about:
How are you keeping your eye on the goal?!
If you've fallen down, or been pushed down, how are you going to get back up?!
How are going to keep from looking back?!

36 days to go...pressing forward...straining toward the finish line! HERE WE GO!!!

Always encouraging you,
Letha

Challenge Standings ~ Week 5

15.2 Skinny Up
11.9 Heavy Medals
10.4 Golden Girls
10.0 Hurdlin’ Turtles
9.6 Gold Medal Gordos 9.5 Going For The Gold
8.8 100 Meter Egg Beaters
8.3 “Drop It Like Its Hot”
8.1 Girls Gone Gold!
7.5 40et8ers
7.4 Yes, Dear!
7.4 Thunder & Lightning
7.0 The Deductibles
7.0 Knee Breaking Beezys
7.0 Games On!
6.9 Slimming Swans
6.9 Platinum
6.9 Mothers of The Brides
6.7 Cruisin’ To Losin’
6.6 Soul Sista’s
6.6 Burning Bridges
6.5 WAPOPIO 10 WK Dashers
6.5 Team Folgers 6.1 Why Not
6.1 Slimmer Swimmers
6.0 Pounds Away
6.0 Diving Divas
5.9 Olympic Weight Losers
5.8 Takin’ To The Ice
5.7 Tons of Fun
5.6 Slimming To Gold
5.6 Gold Diggers! 5.6 Figure Shrinkers
5.5 Repentant Thinners 5.5 Easy Money
5.4 Synchronized Shrinkers
4.7 Track N’ Food 4.7 Thin To Win
4.4 “Side By Side”
4.2 50/50
4.0 Booty Busters
3.9 Lota Lap A Losers
3.8 Too Unfit To Quit 3.8 Team Spandex
3.8 Big Butt So What
3.7 Vaulting To Our Goal
3.6 What The Health
3.6 The Weigh To Gold
3.6 For Better Naked Tomorrows
3.4 In It To Thin It!
3.4 Forward 2 ½ Twist
3.1 Over The Hurdle
3.0 Sister Sleek
3.0 Going For Goal! 2.9 We Love Men’s Diving
2.8 Triathalosers
2.8 Little Splash
2.7 The Beach Boys
2.6 Young & Old Go For Gold
2.3 Gold Medal Chicken On A Stick
2.3 Bronze To Gold
2.0 No Silver, Just Gold 1.8 The Hunger Games
1.6 Synchronized Slimmers 1.5 Future Feather Weights
1.3 Thin 1 & Thin 2
1.2 Victorious Losers

Challenge Standings ~ Week 4

12.3 Skinny Up
10.1 Heavy Medals
9.3 Hurdlin’ Turtles
9.2 Golden Girls
8.7 100 Meter Egg Beaters
8.5 Going For The Gold
8.4 Gold Medal Gordos
7.9 Yes, Dear!
7.4 Thunder & Lightning
7.3 The Deductibles
7.1 40et8ers
7.0 Games On!
7.0 “Drop It Like Its Hot”
6.8 Knee Breaking Beezys
6.6 Girls Gone Gold!
6.6 Burning Bridges
6.4 Cruisin’ To Losin’
6.3 Tons of Fun
6.2 Slimmer Swimmers
6.2 Platinum
6.0 Mothers of The Brides
5.9 Olympic Weight Losers
5.8 Team Folgers
5.7 Diving Divas
5.5 Track N’ Food
5.5 Repentant Thinners
5.5 Figure Shrinkers
5.4 Pounds Away
5.4 Easy Money
5.3 Synchronized Shrinkers
5.2 Why Not
5.1 WAPOPIO 10 WK Dashers
5.1 Takin’ To The Ice
5.1 Gold Diggers!
5.0 Slimming Swans
4.9 Slimming To Gold
4.8 Thin To Win
4.8 50/50
4.7 Soul Sista’s
4.5 Vaulting To Our Goal
4.0 Booty Busters
3.9 What The Health
3.9 In It To Thin It!
3.8 Team Spandex
3.7 Going For Goal!
3.5 Forward 2 ½ Twist
3.4 Over The Hurdle
3.3 Lota Lap A Losers
3.3 “Side By Side”
3.2 We Love Men’s Diving
3.0 Sister Sleek
3.0 Little Splash
2.9 Big Butt So What
2.8 Triathalosers
2.8 Bronze To Gold
2.7 The Weigh To Gold
2.5 For Better Naked Tomorrows
2.4 Too Unfit To Quit
2.4 The Beach Boys
2.2 Young & Old Go For Gold
2.2 No Silver, Just Gold
1.8 Synchronized Slimmers
1.4 Gold Medal Chicken On A Stick
1.2 Future Feather Weights
.9 The Hunger Games
.6 Thin 1 & Thin 2
.1 Victorious Losers

What's Your Pleasure?

It seems that every Tuesday we are celebrating another milestone in the lives of our amazing clients! This Tuesday was no exception. We had TWO of our clients hit their 100 pound weight loss mark today!  Congratulations to Bev B. and Tim E. for staying the course, persevering and being such an encouragement to the rest of us! We're so proud of you! Tim celebrated by sharing 100 bottles of water with his fellow Olympians...thanks Tim!

We celebrated a first this Tuesday as team "Skinny Up" won the weigh in for the third week in a row! Congratulations to Tony and Jessica who made a decision and have had great success because of it! They had a combined weight loss % of 2.45 for the week. They shared their prize again with our second place team at the 6pm gathering. Thanks you two...but I'd be a little nervous about next week, I think we've got some teams that want to take those T Shirts from you! :-)

At noon the newlyweds won with a 2.63% of weight loss! Arty and Tammy are showing us that two are better than one! Tammy hit her 50 pound mark today as well. Congratulations to team "100 meter Egg Beaters"...you guys rock! 

My message this week was serious and intense...but good! I spent some time on the pain VS. pleasure theory.  Everything we do, we do out of our need to seek pleasure or avoid pain. Of all the things we CAN change about our brains...this is one that we won't change. We will always seek pleasure...that's how we are made. The problem isn't that we seek pleasure, the problem is what we link pleasure to.

As a nation we are becoming increasingly indulgent. Whether in our consumption of food, alcohol or drugs. At present 1 in 3 adults are obese and 1 in 10 has a substance use disorder with alcohol or drugs.

So what's up with that? Why are we becoming junkies?

Three factors are converging on us:
1. Our brains naturally drive us to seek our pleasurable experiences
2. Our stress levels are higher than ever, which weakens our self-control
3. Our environment is presenting an increasing variety of availability of pleasurable options

The unfortunate consequence is that over indulging in extreme pleasure is changing our brains. Our desires are becoming increasingly insatiable and our lives increasingly unhappy.

I shared some strategies to protect us from being hijack by the wrong pleasures.

Ask yourself... What is my pleasure? Decide what you'll link pleasure to.

Improve your ability to deal with stress in healthy ways.

Control your availability to non-healthy foods/drink. Keep your enviornment safe.

Find your calm. This might take some time if you've been using food to sooth you in the past.

Link pleasure to things that really matter in your life!

Most important, I encouraged our teams that there is no time like now to decide to change forever. The longer your vice holds you captive, the tighter it's grip.

I invited our Teams to go on a field trip with me to Clark Counties Drug Court. August 30th we will be visiting the superior courts and hopefully learning as we observe Clark County residence working their programs to be free from drug use.

Your Challenge For The Week:
Listen to week # 3 "What's in Your Back Pack ~ Controlling What you Can" and do the homework provided.

It's week 4 of this Summer Team Challenge! Great things are yet to come and I'm so excited for all of you who are participating fully in the program. Keep up the great work!

Always encouraging you.
Letha 

 

Team Challenge Standings - week 3

10.4 Skinny Up
8.5 Hurdlin’ Turtles
7.7 Golden Girls
7.6 Thunder & Lightning
7.5 Heavy Medals
7.1 40et8ers
6.9 Going For The Gold
6.9 100 Meter Egg Beaters
6.7 Gold Medal Gordos
6.3 Tons of Fun
5.9 Olympic Weight Losers
5.9 Diving Divas
5.7 The Deductibles
5.7 Mothers of The Brides
5.7 Girls Gone Gold!
5.6 Yes, Dear!
5.5 Knee Breaking Beezys
5.5 “Drop It Like Its Hot”
5.4 What The Health
5.1 Pounds Away
5.1 Cruisin’ To Losin’
5.0 Platinum
4.8 Thin To Win
4.8 Slimming To Gold
4.8 Figure Shrinkers
4.8 Burning Bridges
4.8 50/50
4.7 Track N’ Food
4.7 Synchronized Shrinkers
4.6 Why Not
4.5 WAPOPIO 10 WK Dashers
4.5 Games On!
4.3 Slimming Swans
4.3 Gold Diggers!
4.2 Soul Sista’s
4.2 Slimmer Swimmers
4.1 For Better Naked Tomorrows
4.1 Easy Money
4.0 “Side By Side”
3.9 Repentant Thinners
3.7 Team Folgers
3.7 Going For Goal!
3.6 Team Spandex
3.6 Lota Lap A Losers
3.6 In It To Thin It!
3.6 Booty Busters
3.4 Little Splash
3.2 Vaulting To Our Goal
3.1 Young & Old Go For Gold
3.1 Forward 2 ½ Twist
2.8 Takin’ To The Ice
2.7 The Weigh To Gold
2.6 Bronze To Gold
2.4 Too Unfit To Quit
2.4 No Silver, Just Gold
2.2 Sister Sleek
2.2 Over The Hurdle
2.2 Gold Medal Chicken On A Stick
1.9 Triathalosers
1.9 The Beach Boys
1.8 Big Butt So What
1.7 Future Feather Weights
1.6 We Love Men’s Diving
1.5 Synchronized Slimmers
1.1 Victorious Losers
.9 The Hunger Games
.5 Thin 1 & Thin 2

London's Got Wenlock...We've Got Glenlock!

We had a little fun looking back at some of the "adorable" mascots of former Olympic games.  London is sporting two funny looking characters this year...Wenlock and Mandeville...but we've got our own adorable mascot, "Glenlock!"  I introduced Glenda this week to begin to teach us and review with us the homework that our teams will be working on for these Olympic Games. She did an excellent job helping us understand that our beliefs about ourself and those things around us have EVERYTHING to do with us losing our weight and keeping it off!  I look forward to her teachings in the weeks to come!

We celebrated with winning teams this week and were sponsored by Annie B. and Tobey G.  Thanks you two for gifting our winning teams with the very cool Pampered Chef pineapple cutter AND a fresh pineapple! What a great gift!  At Noon team '50/50' took the win with a 2.01 % of weight loss!  Michelle and Jennifer are keeping their word about losing 50 pounds in this team challenge! They both had a great week! At 6, for the second week in a row, team 'Skinny Up' took the win!  Tony and Jessica, I'm proud of you guys  for winning  the second week in a row and having a weight loss of 2.09%!  Since they only need one pineapple cutter in their home, they donated the other one to the second place team 'No Silver Just Gold'  Good job Susan and Cayah!

Glenlock focused on beliefs systems Tuesday, while I spoke on the power of decision! It's not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives, but what we do consistently...and what precedes all of our actions? A decision!

Our decisions, not our conditions, determine our destiny!

I encouraged our Olympians to make decisions...lots of them! I reminded them that when a decision is made, in a moment...just like that...everything changes! No matter where you are today, how long you've been there, how many times you've disappointed yourself, make a decision TODAY that puts you on a new path moving in a new direction. I challenged our teams to realize that the decisions they make, even about what they eat, will affect generations to come!

Your Challenge for the Week:
Listen to week # 2 "Change Your Thinking~Change Your Life" and do the homework provided. Bring that back next week for a ticket in the drawing.

Have a great week making decisions that will affect every area of your life!  Live a week with the Olympic spirit inside of you!

Always encouraging you,
Letha

Team Challenge Standings - Week 2

7.9 Skinny Up
7.0 40et8ers
6.6 Hurdlin’ Turtles
6.2 Thunder & Lightning
5.9 Golden Girls
5.8 Heavy Medals
5.6 Going For The Gold
5.5 The Deductibles
5.3 Yes, Dear!
5.2 Gold Medal Gordos
5.2 Girls Gone Gold!
4.8 Games On!
4.8 50/50
4.7 Track N’ Food
4.5 Olympic Weight Losers
4.5 Mothers of The Brides
4.5 “Drop It Like Its Hot”
4.3 Tons of Fun
4.3 Cruisin’ To Losin’
4.3 100 Meter Egg Beaters
4.2 Slimmer Swimmers
4.1 For Better Naked Tomorrows
4.0 Synchronized Shrinkers
4.0 Diving Divas
4.0 “Side By Side”
3.9 Slimming Swans
3.9 Repentant Thinners
3.9 Platinum
3.7 Gold Diggers!
3.7 Easy Money
3.6 What The Health
3.5 Pounds Away
3.5 Figure Shrinkers
3.3 Slimming To Gold
3.3 Knee Breaking Beezys
3.3 Booty Busters
3.2 Why Not
3.2 WAPOPIO 10 WK Dashers
3.2 Vaulting To Our Goal
3.2 Team Spandex
3.1 Young & Old Go For Gold
3.1 Team Folgers
3.0 Thin To Win
2.8 Forward 2 ½ Twist
2.7 In It To Thin It!
2.6 Soul Sista’s
2.6 Going For Goal!
2.6 Burning Bridges
2.5 Little Splash
2.4 Too Unfit To Quit
2.3 The Weigh To Gold
2.3 Lota Lap A Losers
2.2 Gold Medal Chicken On A Stick
2.1 Sister Sleek
1.9 Triathalosers
1.9 No Silver, Just Gold
1.9 Future Feather Weights
1.7 We Love Men’s Diving
1.7 Takin’ To The Ice
1.6 Synchronized Slimmers
1.6 Over The Hurdle
1.5 Big Butt So What
1.2 Bronze To Gold
.9 Thin 1 & Thin 2
.9 The Hunger Games
.8 The Beach Boys
.7 Victorious Losers

Team Challenge Standings - week 1

7.0 40et8ers
5.8 Skinny Up
5.3 Hurdlin' Turtles
5.2 Thunder & Lightning
4.6 Girls Gone Gold!
4.6 100 Meter Egg Beaters
4.5 Yes, Dear!
4.5 Gold Medal Gordos
4.3 Tons of Fun
4.3 Going For The Gold
4.2 Golden Girls
4.1 Olympic Weight Losers
4.0 The Deductibles
3.6 Games On!
3.4 What The Health
3.4 Mothers of The Brides
3.3 Knee Breaking Beezys
3.3 "Side By Side"
3.2 Forward 2 ½ Twist
3.2 Figure Shrinkers
3.2 Easy Money
3.1 Synchronized Shrinkers
3.1 Slimming Swans
3.1 For Better Naked Tomorrows
3.1 Cruisin' To Losin'
2.9 Repentant Thinners
2.9 Gold Diggers!
2.8 Slimmer Swimmers
2.8 Platinum Keith
2.8 Diving Divas
2.8 50/50
2.8 "Drop It Like Its Hot"
2.6 Vaulting To Our Goal
2.5 Team Spandex
2.3 Booty Busters
2.2 Soul Sista's
2.1 Sister Sleek
2.1 Little Splash
2.0 Pounds Away
1.9 Why Not
1.8 Lota Lap A Losers
1.8 In It To Thin It!
1.8 Burning Bridges
1.7 Slimming To Gold
1.7 Gold Medal Chicken On A Stick
1.6 Young & Old Go For Gold
1.6 We Love Men's Diving
1.6 Over The Hurdle
1.6 Going For Goal!
1.5 The Weigh To Gold
1.5 Heavy Medals
1.3 WAPOPIO 10 WK Dashers
1.3 Track N' Food
1.3 Thin To Win
1.3 Future Feather Weights
1.2 Bronze To Gold
1.0 Team Folgers
.9 The Hunger Games
.8 The Beach Boys
.7 Victorious Losers
.7 Thin 1 & Thin 2
.6 Triathalosers
.6 Big Butt So What
.5 Takin' To The Ice
.4 Too Unfit To Quit
.2 No Silver, Just Gold
0.0 Synchronized Slimmers

You Are What You Think!

Can you spell impressive??? THAT is what our Olympic teams were this first weigh-in of these summer games! Between the noon and 6 PM groups, our teams lost a combined weight of 744.2 pounds! They are off to a great start and I'm sure this is just the beginning of the greatest Team Challenge yet!

We kicked off each gathering by meeting our Alumni and hearing how much weight they have lost! WOW! It's hard to believe looking at them now that they ever looked any different! They are such an inspiration to all of us!

Our first two teams to win for the week not only took home the team Olympic uniform to decorate but they received $100 from our Generous sponsors, Glenda Bigalky and Barry Brandenburg.  Thanks to both of you for your love and support of our teams!

Congratulations to 'Hurdlin' Turtles', Betty and Bev, for winning at noon with a 5.33% of weight loss! You sisters are doing what it takes to win!
At 6PM, team 'Skinny Up' took the win with a 5.80% of weight loss! Great job Jessica and Tony. It's always cool to see husband and wives participate in the Team Challenge together!

We focused on our thought life at the Team Challenge this Tuesday. Thinking like an Olympian will not only get you to your goal weight, but it will keep you there! How you think has EVERYTHING to do with how you act! So the question is..."Is my desire for success and to improve my life strong enough to prompt me to change my thinking?" If the answer is yes, then the question becomes, how do I change my thinking?
I shared these tangible and practical points.

• Expose yourself to good input
• Expose yourself to good thinkers
• Choose to think good thoughts
• Act on good thoughts
• Allow your emotions to create another good thought

I challenged our Olympians to give up "stinkin thinkin" for the rest of the Challenge! 

To help them do that, I introduced my CD series. This week I challenged the teams to download week one and do the homework provided.

YOUR CHALLENGE FOR THE WEEK:

Listen to week one "Understanding your beliefs, the key to permanent weight loss" and do the homework provided. Bring your homework back in next week for a ticket in the drawing.

I'm so excited to see how week two of the Team Challenge unfolds! I have a feeling it's gonna be good!!! Until next week.

Always encouraging you,

Letha