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…
