Listen to Your Author!

Week three of the Summer Team Challenge was another successful week! Our teams lost a total of 230 pounds for the week! We are working hard to live a better story and losing a bunch of weight at the same time! 

As we continue to look at re-writing our stories, at living a better story, I challenged our teams this week to listen to the writer. The writer being the author outside of ourselves who is moving us towards a better story. The one that knows right from wrong and nudges us to live our best life. It's the voice that says “Hold your tongue." "Don’t talk about other people that way." "Forgive the friends you haven’t talked to.”  "I want you to look at the sunset.”  "Think about how short life is and how your troubles aren’t worth worrying about.” It’s the voice that says, “Take care of yourself.” “ Say no thank you.” "Go for a walk with a friend.”  "Don’t allow food to win.”  “Don’t make food your idol.”

What if we were the character and we did what the writer wanted us to do...moment by moment, day by day. As uncomfortable as that might feel as we begin, we would start living a better story. When you are a better character, your story gets better too.

We are witnessing people living great stories every week at the Team Challenge! From our Alumni encouraging us to try new and different recipes, to our clients who are staying for the "after class" and getting powerful nuggets of education and group encouragement, we are telling better stories with our lives.

A little re-cap of what we've focused on so far:

• We ARE the decisions we make
• A character is what he DOES
• Listen to your writer

We will surely be telling better stories with our lives by the end of this summer! It's exciting stuff!

Our wining Teams for week:

Noon: Team "Working Our Way Toward Bling, Booty Jeans" Diane and Wendy with a 1.98% of weight loss for the week!

6 PM: Team "Second Chances" Peggy and Debbie with a 2.94% of weight loss!

Congratulations to you all!!

Our first Water Bottle Winners with the greatest individual % of weight loss went to Diane L. at Noon and Gordon R. at 6!  You guys rocked it!! Good job!

YOUR CHALLENGE FOR THE WEEK:

Listen to week #1 "Understanding Your beliefs ~ The Key to Permanent Weight Loss," and do the homework provided.

I'm hoping to hear from you this week on Face Book and by email about 'listening to your writer.' It can be a powerful motivation as we strive to live a better story.

Until next week...

Always encouraging you,

Letha

Live Your Best Life - WEEK 3 Standings

Team Name
Dude, Where's my Gut?	8.64%
Second Chances	7.59%
Working Our way toward blingy, booty jeans	7.40%
Cottage Cheeks No More	5.90%
Tiny Hiney's	5.89%
Size Matters	5.80%
Belittle the Middle	5.78%
Lean on Me	5.38%
A Bundle of Possibilities	4.98%
The 2 Lovelies	4.76%
Fit Happens!	4.64%
P's of Mind	4.58%
20/20	4.52%
Fatties R Us	4.34%
Flabuless	4.29%
Double Trouble	4.22%
That's It	4.20%
Fifty Shades of Fit	4.16%
The Meltaways	4.11%
The Best Kind of Losers	4.11%
#losingit	4.06%
Oh Yeah, Just Watch Me!	4.06%
Feelin' Fab	3.71%
Bedunka Dunk Busters	3.70%
The Right Rhoade 2	3.69%
Crazy Cousins	3.68%
Skinny Dippers	3.57%
SIS	3.47%
Can't Weigh Us Down	3.47%
L2	3.44%
Akers-A-Weigh	3.41%
Mighty Morphin Posterior Arrangers	3.30%
The Double D - Dangerous Divas	3.29%
Let's Do This, Sis!	3.28%
Quarter, Dime & Six Pennies	3.01%
Buns on the Run	2.97%
Bold Resolve	2.94%
The Best Year Boomer Babes	2.89%
Date Nights with Denny	2.87%
Let's Get A lot Radical!!!	2.80%
Glory 24/7	2.69%
Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger	2.53%
Melting Mama's	2.49%
Are We There Yet?	2.47%
See you Lighter	2.44%
Becoming Our Mothers afterall	2.44%
Freedom Fat Fighters	2.40%
Never Too Late to be Great	2.31%
Thunder Monkeys	2.22%
The Two BB	2.11%
Wishful Shrinkers	2.05%
Catch us if you can	2.05%
The Purposeful Losers	1.91%
Weigh To Go	1.77%
Freakin' Awesome	1.75%
Bod Squad	1.54%
Team Badass	1.46%
One Last Time	1.38%
All Day Every Day	1.12%
Slimmin' 'em rolls	0.90%
Downsizing 24/7	0.84%
RAZMO	0.75%
Dream Team!	0.46%
Delores	0.37%

A Character is What He Does!

We had an exciting and powerful day at The Healthy Weigh.  Our teams lost over 700 pounds this first week and are off to writing a better story with their lives. I think this summer is going to have a lasting affect on all of our lives.

As we dig a little deeper into what it takes to live our best life, we looked this week at a character in a good story. A character is what he does. Not what he thinks about or talks about...but what he does.
Sometimes the hardest part of life is actually living it out…walking the walk instead of just talking the talk.

I’ve been to too many memorial services lately…of special people in my life. Here’s what I’ve noticed about their stories. No one stands at the end of a life and talks about what people thought about, or felt, or dreamed of, or hoped for or wanted or even wrote about…they talk about what they DID.

Because a person is what they DO!...ALL DAY EVERY DAY!

Here’s the truth about living a great story…It’s going to sound like a great idea.

 
“Im going to get healthy, I’m going to quit using food for my drug of choice, I’m going to start exercising, I’m going to start being kinder, listening more, having great time management. I’m going to read more, watch TV less, I’m going to take up a hobby, start kayaking, change the relationships in my family.  I’m going to spend more time with my kids…quality time.  I’m going to do my part to have a great marriage, I’m going to take a class, I’m going to learn new things, I’m going to find balance… I’m going to bark less, wag more.
I’m excited!"  But then comes the hard part...walking the walk!

People love and want desperately to live a great story…but few people like the work it takes to make it happen.

As I have pressed in to my word for the year…'meaningful', I’ve tried to do something that’s helpful for living a meaningful life. I try to imagine myself ten years from now. And then I ask myself what will I wish I had done by then…and then I try to do those things!

Do you ever see an 85 year old couple walking hand in hand and say…"Oh, I want to be doing that when I’m 85?”  Well, are you doing that now?

Do you ever see a fit 78 year old lady out walking her dog and say “I want to be doing that when I’m 78.”  Are you doing that now?

Do you talk to elderly people who are reading and have knowledge of important things and say “I want to be like that when I grow up.”  Well, are your reading now?

Try to imagine yourself doing those things 10 years in to the future or longer…and then do them NOW!

It’s amazing how priorities float to the top when we consider our lives in hindsight, and as I’ve sat at my friends’ memorial services I’ve taking this exercise to the furthest point…to the end of my life. What will I want you to say, my husband to say, my family to say, my co-workers to say at my memorial service?

 

Relationships become a priority…so taking care of myself does too. Because I’m more free to love, I’m happier, I’m more content, I’m at peace, when I’m taking care of myself.  Then the people around me get the best of me.  I’ve often laughed at people…(on the inside of course) who say that taking care of yourself, watching your weight, exercising, is selfish.

Ask a husband how it feels to be married to a miserable wife.  Ask a child what it’s like to be parented by an unhappy mom, Ask a wife how if feels to be married un an unhealthy, sedentary man…You think taking care of yourself is selfish…I say just the opposite. Taking care of yourself is the first thing you should do if you want real, intimate, important, connected, fun, loving, joyful, relationships!

I’m sure if you’d look back in ten years…you wouldn't say, I won the team challenge! YEA, I kick it.  I won $1000!!!  You’ll want to have said. I lost my weight and kept it off!!!!!

So that means…it’s about change and doing what it takes to make this weight loss permanent …the hard stuff.

A character is what he does!

Living your best life is about what you DO…not what you know, or what you think about…It’s about the action you take!

One great little tool Donald Miller suggests is that at the top of every "to do today list" you write the following:

If I could do today over again I’d…

What would that be like? What if we were living each day doing the things we hoped we’d be doing if we looked ten years into the future…or maybe more drastic, if we were sitting at our own memorial service. What if we’d lived each day living the life of the person we want to become…who would we become???

Our Winning Teams of the week had some GREAT weight loss %'s

Noon: Team "Cottage Cheeks No More" Gina and Teresa with a 4.25% of weight loss

6 PM: Team "Dude, Where's my Gut?" Jim and Gordan with a 6.04% of weight loss 

Congratulations to these teams and to SO many others this week who had GREAT results! We are off and running!!!

Your Challenge For The Week:

• Write at the top of each day of your food and exercise record:

"If I  could do today over again I'd..."

• Try a new recipe

We are what we repeatedly do!   What will you DO this week!? 

Always encouraging you,

Letha

Live Your Best Life ~ WEEK 2 Standings

Team Name
Dude, Where's my Gut?	6.04%
Working Our way toward blingy, booty jeans	5.53%
Second Chances	4.78%
A Bundle of Possibilities	4.40%
Cottage Cheeks No More	4.25%
Belittle the Middle	3.95%
Lean on Me	3.69%
Size Matters	3.67%
Fit Happens!	3.57%
Fifty Shades of Fit	3.43%
The Meltaways	3.38%
The 2 Lovelies	3.38%
Crazy Cousins	3.36%
P's of Mind	3.34%
Quarter, Dime & Six Pennies	3.18%
The Best Year Boomer Babes	3.13%
That's It	3.10%
The Right Rhoade 2	3.07%
Double Trouble	2.95%
L2	2.88%
Fatties R Us	2.83%
Oh Yeah, Just Watch Me!	2.77%
#losingit	2.75%
SIS	2.72%
Can't Weigh Us Down	2.71%
Glory 24/7	2.61%
Flabuless	2.59%
Bold Resolve	2.57%
Are We There Yet?	2.54%
Feelin' Fab	2.48%
Date Nights with Denny	2.46%
Melting Mama's	2.33%
20/20	2.32%
Let's Do This, Sis!	2.32%
Let's Get A lot Radical!!!	2.26%
Tiny Hiney's	2.24%
Never Too Late to be Great	2.23%
The Double D - Dangerous Divas	2.18%
Mighty Morphin Posterior Arrangers	2.05%
Akers-A-Weigh	2.02%
Bedunka Dunk Busters	1.76%
Freakin' Awesome	1.75%
The Purposeful Losers	1.56%
Bod Squad	1.54%
Catch us if you can	1.54%
Buns on the Run	1.48%
One Last Time	1.38%
Becoming Our Mothers afterall	1.36%
See you Lighter	1.28%
The Two BB	1.28%
Skinny Dippers	1.27%
Weigh To Go	1.22%
Slimmin' 'em rolls	1.14%
Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger	1.03%
Dream Team!	0.90%
Thunder Monkeys	0.73%
#3 NO TEAM NAME	0.72%
Delores	0.42%
All Day Every Day	0.29%
RAZMO	0.23%
The Best Kind of Losers	0.15%
Downsizing 24/7	0.00%
Freedom Fat Fighters	0.00%
Making the Cut	0.00%
Team Badass	0.00%
Team Hungriest	0.00%
The Winners	0.00%
We're Not Gonna Bake It	0.00%

All Day Every Day!

"All Day Every Day"...Our mantra for the summer Team Challenge emerged yesterday as we kicked off the 26th edition of The Healthy Weigh Team Challenge!  This Summer our theme is "Live Your Best Life." We weighed in 75 excited teams, took their before pictures and announced them by their team names!  I'm still amazed that after 26 challenges we've got so many never before used team names!  We've got some creative people participating this summer!

We've also got some serious people participating this summer.  Living your best life is no easy task but I looked into the eyes of 150 people yesterday who are ready to live a better story. Lives are going to be changed forever this summer, children are going to have healthier parents, husbands are going to have happier wives, wives are going to have more confident husbands, the prescription drug companies are going to make less money, the goodwill is going to get a lot of donations, TJ MAXX and Ross dress for less are going to have more customers, running shoes are going to get more wear, friends are going to be made, and did I say…lives are going to be changed forever??? The Healthy weigh is going to be involved in a really good story this summer!!

This Team Challenge is all about a great story… and here’s the thing about a great story…If you've read a really great book, it’s not about a person who woke up one day, her pants were tight, so she went on a diet…followed through with it and then at the end of the book bought a new pair of jeans in a smaller size.  You wouldn’t put that book down after you'd read it and say, that was the best story I have EVER read! You’d probably say, that was uninspiring, boring and I never want to read that story again!

No a really great story, a meaningful story, would be about a person who over came great obstacles, challenges, to start living their best life.  A great story would be about a person who had difficulties, hardships, almost lost their way, and then made a choice to stand up and say, I want to live a better story.  I want my life to have meaning. I want to be healthy and whole from the inside out.  I want to take care of me so I can contribute something great to the world.

We’d watch the character in the story almost give up, struggle to find meaning, and then, come out of depression, indifference, or a hard season and over come!  We'd watch them find healing, health, peace, joy, laughter, and strength!  At the end of this story we’d be crying and we’d say, that was the best story EVER and I’m going read that book again! The problem is…we love stories like that, with a character who overcomes…we just don’t want to be that character. We don’t want to have to be the one that transforms, because transformation is HARD!!!  But you know what??? It makes for a really great story…and it makes for an even BETTER life!!

If what we choose to do with our lives won’t make a great or meaningful story, it won’t make a great or meaningful life either.  Every story must be written…and the truth is, you are writing your story right now. The life you’re living, the actions you’re taking every day are telling your story.

This team challenge is about changing the way the story ends. We all have the opportunity, the chance to do that! I’m hoping there are some people in this challenge that will go from a dark place, maybe almost giving up, depressed or worse, indifferent…and overcome! The smaller pair of jeans in that story would be just fine…I just believe that in the next ten weeks the stories are going to be much better than a new pair of jeans.

We talked about the one thing that will make ALL the difference in this next ten weeks. The ability to harness the power of a decision!  At The Healthy Weigh, we know the true meaning of the word DECISION...committing to achieving a result and then cutting yourself off from any other possibility!  I did my best to inspire our teams to do just that! 

I threw out our first two challenges for this ten weeks:

1. Decorate your folders (create, inspire, use your folders as a motivational tool)

2. Keep your food and exercise record all week and bring it back in for a chance at a great prize!

I also announced that the coveted Healthy Weigh water bottle will be a weekly prize given to the top person at noon and 6 PM each week with the greatest % of weight loss!!!  This will be fun!!

We are on our way to re-writing our stories and living our very best lives...It's going to be a powerful ten weeks.  ALL DAY EVERY DAY!!! :-)

Always encouraging you,

Letha