Simple But Substantial Change

It’s no big secret that I have become a big fan of the reality show, “The Biggest Loser.” The hook for me is seeing people who have let things get so out of hand that they must face massive changes in their lives, often times with life or death ramifications.

For example: The women on the show weigh over 200 or 300 pounds and the men weigh over 300 or 400 pounds. A 2011 Gallup poll reported that women in the USA average 160, and men are at 196.

And while I will be very interested to see the metamorphoses of these folks by the end of the show, I keep seeing and hearing little bits of advice that really can make a difference in all of our lives, and last night I got a good one (but let’s face it, it is a “reality show” - they get to work out 6 hours a day with dedicated staff, have full medical care, and their diets are planned and watched like a hawk. Sign me up!).

One of the contestants was monitoring another team’s session, and sat in with them. The trainer asked her the question, “What is it in your past that has kept you from achieving your fitness goals?”

You see, this very heavy woman is not stupid, nor does she want to weigh 300 pounds. She has tried and tried, as have most of the contestants, to lose the weight over the years, but yet here she is. After some soul searching and further questions, she finally admitted that she had an alcoholic father who had passed away when she was 16, and while she held him in very high regard, his behavior to her was at times very good, and at times very dark – and she’d never really dealt with it, aside from using food as a buffer for her feelings…

And that brought me to my own personal crossroad of sorts, even making it my Twitter #FitnessTip today: “What's personally stopped you from achieving things in the past? You have to truly address that, as well as have goals & plans.” I know I have something to change, and I’m going to do it. I’ll let you know how that works out as we head on down the road this year…

I think we all have something(s) simple in terms of identifying it, and substantial in terms of its effect if we change it, in our lives. That could be obvious things like stopping smoking, increasing exercise, or cutting back on excessive things like sugary foods or booze. But it could also be having the courage to not only identify a person, event, or an illness in our past that we have not addressed, but then taking action to do something positive about it.

So my challenge to you today is to think about what your goals and plans have been in the past, and what really stopped you from achieving them? And have you addressed those issues? If you haven’t, you need to – I know I need to – otherwise we’re most likely going to act out that often quoted definition of insanity, repeating the same thing again and again, but expecting a different result each time. Ciao for now, and thanks for checking in! – Cb…