Got Motivation?

Week three at The Healthy Weigh was all about motivation! Where we get it and how to keep it! Change is hard and without continued motivation we're going to have a hard go of it! Comments from clients like "I wish I could bottle up what happens on Thursdays" and "I wish I could remember what I REALLY want instead of reaching for what I want at the moment," inspired me to teach the lesson this week! Although Thursday is a great time to come together with like minded people and be encouraged and inspired, it doesn't change thinking like taking personal responsibility for our own motivation does!
I shared some of the powerful tools I've used to motivate myself and have helped hundreds of clients over the years as well:

Year at a glance calendars
Written goals with rewards
Using pain and pleasure to motivate
Positive statements or affirmations
Photos of ourselves living healthier lives
Imagery and visualization

The list could go on and on!

And what if, you did some or all of those things in your quest to lose weight and keep it off? Oh I know...you'd lose your weight and keep it off!! :-)

Here’s are some statements I've heard clients make over the years...

“This weight loss thing is like 99% mental.”

“If I could just remember what I really wanted instead of giving in at the moment.”

“I wish I could stay motivated.”

“I wish I had more willpower.”

“I wish I hadn’t stopped.”

That's why it's SO important to take responsibility for your own motivation...Changed thinking changes EVERYTHING and using these tools WILL change your thinking! 

If you think the way you've always thought, you'll stay the way you've always been, however,  you have the ability to change your future today by changing how you think. You CAN change your thinking by DECIDING to and doing the things I talked about this week!

Ask yourself..."What's it going to take for me to change my thinking?" Not "What's it going to take to stay on my diet?" ...because if you change your thinking, you'll stay on your diet!

The best news of the day was that you don’t have to allow the programming of your past to control your present or your future.

Our Winning Teams of the week:
Noon: Team "Freedom Fighters" Tom and Dana (repeat!) with a 2.55% of weight loss for the week!
6 PM: Team "Finally Full" Debbie and Gena with a 2.85 % for the week!
Congratulations...GREAT JOB!

Our first Heart for individual weight loss went out to Erica N.  with a 5.88% of weight loss! That's all HEART!!

Your Challenges for the week:
Download week # 2 Change Your Thinking ~ Change Your life and do the homework in your folder.
Put your goal date on the year at a glance calendar at THW.
Do two of the motivational things I talked about this week
Of course "Not One Stinkin Piece"

It was another important week at The Healthy Weigh.  Motivation...Can't reach your goal and keep your weight off without it!  Change your thinking....and you will change your life!

Always encouraging you,
Letha

Going All In - Week 3 Team Standings

Team Name	%
Freedom Fighters	7.86%
Full Nelson	7.41%
Lose To Gain	6.69%
Material Girls	5.98%
Thin Mints	5.66%
Butt Weight	5.36%
Fat Boys	5.35%
Peacefully Changed	5.30%
The Determinators	5.28%
Dwindling Divas	5.12%
2000 Fit-team	5.05%
Waist Management	4.92%
Making It Look Easy	4.88%
Waistin A-Weigh	4.87%
Ya Gotta Wanna	4.87%
Stress Less, Weigh Less	4.85%
Orange is the New Snack	4.75%
All In	4.75%
Thinner Winners	4.71%
Guts B Gone 2	4.68%
#ShakeItOff	4.68%
Why Not	4.67%
Salt N Peppa	4.62%
Re-Chewing Our Vows	4.60%
Back & On the Attack	4.60%
Royal Flush	4.55%
Asian Fusion	4.47%
10 Weeks to Tighter Cheeks	4.47%
Friends Through Thick and Thin	4.43%
Move It and Lose It	4.35%
Whittling Whistlers	4.25%
Maui Wowies	4.11%
We're Not Short, We're Fun Size	3.99%
Seniors Driving to Lose	3.93%
Thinspired	3.91%
Finally Full	3.87%
Waist Watchers	3.83%
Special K	3.69%
Thinning Thunder Thighs	3.68%
Lost And Found	3.64%
Bold Resolve	3.62%
Lighten Up	3.59%
Prepear for Orange	3.54%
Ladies on a Roll	3.46%
Spicy Seniors	3.46%
The Reducers	3.43%
Team Sassyfras	3.40%
Colossal Cousins	3.39%
Less Than Yesterday	3.36%
Slim and Sassy	3.36%
Snowmen in the Sunshine	3.35%
Booty Busters	3.35%
All Aboard	3.05%
Couch Queens	3.01%
Deflating the Spare	3.00%
Family Melt Down	2.97%
Fully Immersed	2.92%
#1 Team Name Needed	2.91%
Spanxless By Spring	2.87%
Kool-Aid Drinkers	2.86%
Frank & David	2.66%
Persistant Pals	2.61%
Lucky Losers	2.56%
Panther No Panth, We're Coming In	2.51%
Weir Winners	2.50%
Focused to the Finish	2.47%
Electric Chickens	2.45%
Re-booting for Better Booties	2.45%
Mission Slimpossible	2.37%
Sisters In A Weigh	2.37%
Just Do It	2.34%
Going Down!	2.29%
The Believers	2.28%
Alumni Going All In	2.09%
Does This Cucumber Make Me Look Fat	2.05%
Team Awesome Sauce	2.05%
W8 2NV	2.05%
XR Thighs	2.04%
Tiny Hineys	2.01%
Munchin Lions	1.88%
Flab-U-Less	1.65%
Re-Booty	1.63%
Focus-Pocus, Its Not Magic	1.63%
Here We Go Again	1.59%
Dude Where's My Butt?	1.55%
Lean Queens	1.50%
Old Crazy Guys	1.43%
Wishful Shrinking	1.18%
Go Fat, Go!	1.17%
Breaking Bad…Habits	1.17%
Just Sayin	1.04%
League of Lettuce Lovers	1.04%
Determined Duo	0.96%
Take Back Our Temple	0.33%
Belly Busters	0.13%
Fearless Finishers	0.01%
#2 Team Name Needed	0.00%
Team Committed	-0.04%

We're Diving In!

We're diving in! And we went deep this week! The weight loss was AMAZING,(931 pounds lost) the enthusiasm was contagious and the message was strong!  Week two of this winter Team Challenge, challenged us all!

This week as I wrote and prepared for Thursday's  presentation, I did a couple of things. One, I took time with the stack of "before" pictures looking at all the faces of my new and old friends starting this important journey, and two, looked a little deeper at being 100% HEART, 100% DEDICATED, 100% DEVOTED!  It's always easy for me to see that I'm all heart, dedicated, and devoted to and for OTHERS, but what about myself? What kind of relationship do I have with myself? Am I living MY best life possible because of the love, dedication and devotion I have for ME?

I shared MANY reasons that I believe keep us from that:

I can tell you, some people in the room are afraid to love themselves. They believe that that kind of behavior might be selfish, so they sacrifice to the detriment of their own life causing them to live a life less than amazing so in turn end up being less than they were meant to be to those people that they sacrificed for!!!

Then there are those in the room that are afraid of success, or don’t feel worthy of it! "Oh…being healthy and slender and strong and disciplined…that’s not for me, I don’t deserve that kind of life…I’m just going to secretly wish it was my life and I’m going to wish that  FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE!!!"

Then there’s those who's circumstances are getting in the way. They are here living outside of themselves, worrying, stressing, laboring over hard things in this life and allowing those hard things to take their life too!

Then there’s those…..that are just in plain denial! You haven’t connected to the fact that your behavior, your treatment of your body, the love, devotion and dedication that you lack towards yourself matters in the least!  You think “I’m not hurting anybody…but myself!"  Hate to break it to you…but that is the biggest lie of all!!  Ask a child with a depressed mom, how they like that? Ask a husband with an insecure wife how that’s going? Ask a wife who’s husband is choosing a drug of choice over the family how that makes her feel?…no, you see, the treatment of your body affects everyone in your world!

Oh, then there's you in the room just thinking…it’s not all that. "I just love food.  It’s not ANY of that emotional junk…I just love food. " So what you’re telling me, is that your love, your devotion, your dedication to food is greater than your health, your family, your future, your self image, your contentment, your peace, your desire to be disease free, medication free, guilt free??? OK…you just love food.

There are many different reasons we aren’t living our best life…do you know what yours is???

What action would you need to take this week to begin to change that? What "Next Right Thing" can you do this week to start loving, being devoted to and being dedicated to yourself?

It was a pretty powerful day at The Healthy Weigh to say the least!

I was super excited for our winning teams of the week! They not only walked away with gift cards from Safeway, they also took home the immunity idols for the challenge...life jackets!  I figured since we are going "ALL IN" we're going to need a little extra support when we dive into the cold winter waters!

Noon: Team "Freedom Fighters" Tom and Dana won with a 5.44% of weight loss for the week!
6PM: Team "Full Nelson" Carrie and Erica with a 5.67% or weight loss for the week!

Congratulations to both of these top teams! You are off to an amazing start!

Your Challenge for the week:

1. Identify that THING keeping you from being loving, devoted and dedicated to yourself and take some action to change that!

2. Keep your program journal and bring it back in next week signed!

3. NOT ONE STINKIN PIECE OF VALENTINE CANDY!

I'm for you and with you my friends.  I'm right beside you battling and pressing on to live MY very best life! Together we CAN do this and not only change ourselves, but change our worlds!!

Congratulations on GREAT weight loss this week! Here's to another week taking loving care of yourself!

Always encouraging you,

Letha

Going All In - Week 2 Team Standings

Team Name	%
Full Nelson	5.67%
Freedom Fighters	5.45%
Lose To Gain	4.88%
Material Girls	4.73%
2000 Fit-team	4.39%
Orange is the New Snack	4.32%
Guts B Gone 2	4.14%
Peacefully Changed	4.12%
Butt Weight	3.94%
Fat Boys	3.86%
Making It Look Easy	3.85%
Thin Mints	3.79%
Tiny Hineys	3.74%
Back & On the Attack	3.71%
10 Weeks to Tighter Cheeks	3.68%
All In	3.65%
Dwindling Divas	3.64%
Royal Flush	3.53%
Salt N Peppa	3.51%
Waist Management	3.45%
#ShakeItOff	3.40%
Ladies on a Roll	3.40%
Slim and Sassy	3.36%
Asian Fusion	3.21%
The Reducers	3.16%
Waistin A-Weigh	3.09%
Booty Busters	3.08%
Re-Chewing Our Vows	3.07%
Family Melt Down	2.99%
Mission Slimpossible	2.99%
Stress Less, Weigh Less	2.98%
Friends Through Thick and Thin	2.92%
#1 Team Name Needed	2.91%
Why Not	2.88%
Prepear for Orange	2.86%
Team Sassyfras	2.85%
Whittling Whistlers	2.83%
We're Not Short, We're Fun Size	2.83%
Going Down!	2.81%
#3 Team Name Needed	2.73%
Snowmen in the Sunshine	2.71%
Thinner Winners	2.70%
Ya Gotta Wanna	2.70%
Move It and Lose It	2.69%
Maui Wowies	2.66%
Special K	2.65%
Frank & David	2.58%
Thinspired	2.47%
Re-booting for Better Booties	2.42%
Waist Watchers	2.39%
Less Than Yesterday	2.36%
Seniors Driving to Lose	2.34%
Alumni Going All In	2.29%
Lost And Found	2.20%
Bold Resolve	2.19%
Spicy Seniors	2.17%
Thinning Thunder Thighs	2.09%
Team Awesome Sauce	2.05%
Focused to the Finish	2.04%
Couch Queens	2.04%
The Determinators	2.02%
Fully Immersed	1.90%
Munchin Lions	1.88%
The Believers	1.82%
Kool-Aid Drinkers	1.74%
Panther No Panth, We're Coming In	1.71%
Spanxless By Spring	1.70%
Persistant Pals	1.66%
Electric Chickens	1.57%
Focus-Pocus, Its Not Magic	1.56%
Lucky Losers	1.48%
W8 2NV	1.48%
Flab-U-Less	1.46%
Deflating the Spare	1.45%
Old Crazy Guys	1.43%
Weir Winners	1.42%
Re-Booty	1.36%
XR Thighs	1.21%
Wishful Shrinking	1.18%
Just Do It	1.12%
Finally Full	1.02%
Determined Duo	0.96%
All Aboard	0.87%
#5 Team Name Needed	0.87%
Colossal Cousins	0.77%
Go Fat, Go!	0.71%
League of Lettuce Lovers	0.63%
#4 Team Name Needed	0.55%
Team Committed	0.52%
Here We Go Again	0.27%
Take Back Our Temple	0.20%
Just Sayin	0.06%
#2 Team Name Needed	0.00%
Belly Busters	0.00%
Dude Where's My Butt?	0.00%
Sisters In A Weigh	0.00%
Breaking Bad…Habits	0.00%
Fearless Finishers	-0.02%

Let The EPIC Winter Begin!

I love new beginnings and boy did we have one this Thursday at The Healthy Weigh! This week's start marks the 24th Team Challenge and it's going to be EPIC! We weighed in 105 teams, took photos of people who will change drastically in the next 10 weeks, and were introduced to teams with some of the BEST team names I've heard so far!

Of course, I did my best to get our teams fired up and ready for a life changing ten weeks. The key... harnessing the power of a DECISION! That's the ONE THING that will make all the difference! Going all in...one decision can change your life??? Yes it can, if you embrace the true meaning of DECISION! Committing to achieving a result and then completely cutting yourself off from any other possibility!

With that happening, here's what else will happen in the next ten weeks. Children will have healthier parents,  husband will have more vibrant wives, wives will have more confident husbands, prescription drug companies will make less money,  the Goodwill is going to have more donations, TJ Maxx will have more customers and running shoes will get more wear! WOW...all those things are happening as we speak in Clark County WA!!!

Your Challenge for the week includes reading all the materials in your packet and decorating them too! Bring those back in next week for a ticket in the drawing!

The RED HEART award returns this challenge with a special red heart from my very own box of Christmas tree ornaments. This little red heart will be given to the ONE person each week with the greatest % of weight loss for the week! Now THAT'S something to work towards!!! :-)

To all of you...this Winter of 2015! Let's DO THIS THING...Let's GO ALL IN!!!

Join us on Facebook this week, Search me out Letha Brandenburg and request me as a friend, I'll add you to the Private Winter Team Challenge group!

Until Next Thursday...my favorite day of the week!

Always encouraging you,
Letha

Team "Full Nelson" Takes The Win!

WOW...let me say that backwards...WOW! What a night! We had a celebration that will take us through the holidays! Capturing the accomplishments of a group of outstanding individuals in just over an hour isn't an easy task, but we did it!!

The evening was all about heart! Everyone in attendance had a decided heart! October 16th they walked in to The Healthy Weigh begin a 10 week challenge and through holidays and the regular stresses of life, followed through until the end! That's what people with decided hearts do...persist without exception!

We were witness to a wonderful night of transformation! Not only did our winning teams leave on top of the world, but so many others did as well. Congratulations to all of you!

We witnessed a beautiful moment when Chris H.  surrounded by his family, read his letter. After eight months with The Healthy Weigh, Chris hit his goal last night losing 152 pounds! It was incredible to listen to his story about his physical and emotional transformation! I received a letter from his daughter, which I was fortunate enough to read. There wasn't a dry eye in the place! Congratulations Chris! We are inspired by you!  I can't wait to see Chris in ORANGE!  He will wear it well!

We gave away a bunch of loot last night:

Fit Bits were won by Brian and Paul!
$250 was won by Frank!
$50 Gift cards were won by Scott and Darcy!
The Winter Team Challenge was won by Laura!

Two Scholarships were donated by Alumni and given out to two deserving people! Jarrod and Becky received them with love!

And then our winning teams...
In 3rd place with 17.066% of weight loss "Team 01CU812" Randy and Laura won $300!
In 2nd place with 17.078% of weight loss "Team Kysar Rolls" Paul and Kara won $500!
In 1st place with 18.46% of weight loss "Team Full Nelson" Erica and Carrie won $1000!

Congratulations to our top Three teams!  GREAT JOB!!! It was a close race!

Some individual honors were recognized as well:
Top Male weight loss and weight loss % was Paul K.with 55.2 pounds and 19.58%!
Top Female weight loss was Carrie N. with 51.1 pounds!
Top Female weight loss % was Peggy S. with a 19.04% of weight loss!

We gave away our final two leather hearts to Carrie N. with 4.26% weight loss for one week and Frank S. with 4.19% for the week! 10 leather hearts were given out this fall to ten deserving participants!  Decided hearts for sure!

It's always emotional for me to close out a Team Challenge! I've come to cherish this group of people and I'll miss seeing them.  I'm looking forward to journeying on this winter with another amazing group!

I'm wishing all of you a wonderful holiday season, filled with love and health! You all know what to do until you see me again! Remember to lean in close to that heart hanging on your Christmas tree and you might just hear my voice!

Always encouraging you,
Letha

Best of the Best - FINAL Team Standings

Team Name	%
Full Nelson	18.46%
Kysar Rolls	17.08%
OICU812	17.07%
Determined Duo	14.82%
G.O.T.C.H.A.	14.34%
Cut The Caboose	13.92%
Rest Later	13.46%
Good, Better, Best	13.10%
Sisu	12.74%
Starving	12.54%
Cruisin' For Losin'	11.53%
Finally Full!	11.26%
Gradually Best	10.67%
The Suits	9.40%
Foley Loaded	9.34%
Who's Waist Line Is It Anyway?	9.25%
Best Of The Nest	9.12%
Goin' Against The Gain	8.97%
Team Second Chance	8.30%
*TEAM NAME NEEDED 1*	7.56%
Ready, Best, Goal	7.46%
Lean and Lovely	6.74%
Dynamic Duo	6.41%
Thin It To Win It	6.23%
Best Believing	6.22%
Supervision Required	5.96%
Better Best Busters	5.60%
Costco Cuties	5.38%
Slim Down Shorties	5.00%
Belly Busters	4.89%
Livin' On A Dream	4.83%
Downsizing Duo	4.80%
Grand Slam	4.76%
Here Today, Gone Tomorrow	4.70%
Hi C 2 Lo C	4.68%
Look Better Naked	4.62%
Rapid Reduction	4.55%
Just Sayin'	4.16%
Thinner Winners	4.07%
Mission Slimpossible	3.97%
Every Ounce Counts	3.90%
Why Weight?	3.90%
MOP - Measuring Our Progress	3.80%
Better Than The Rest	3.78%
Bold Resolve	3.74%
Can't Wait	3.66%
Slim Horizons	3.35%
Team Name? We don't have one yet!	3.26%
The Pursuit To Healthiness	3.16%
Way 2 Healthy	3.03%
The Wonder Women	2.68%
Red Hot Mommas	2.50%
What Are We Gonna Be?	2.45%
Weapons of Less Consumption	2.17%
Not Fond of Flab	1.97%
Figuratively Shrinking	1.87%
Lumps of Goal	1.78%
Now You See Us, Now You Don't	1.70%
Let It Go	1.68%
It's Miller Time Again	1.62%
Devoted Duo	1.50%
Dump Your Rump	1.44%
Alumnis At It Again	1.21%
*TEAM NAME NEEDED 3*	1.17%
Not About The Bass	0.22%
Old & Crazy Guys	-1.03%