weight loss

Accepting Praise for Your Successes

Brian Dunning is from the podcast Skeptoid.com, and he was the most recent guest on my podcast Make Your Someday Today.

Success will bring recognition. In business, that could be in the form of a pay raise, a bonus, a promotion, or a bigger office. In sports, that could be medals or sponsorships. Those are relatively easy to accept. They are tangible rewards, something that is measurable and comparable to other people.

In weight loss, the recognition is different. People will say things like “Have you lost weight?” or “You are getting so thin” or “You really shouldn’t lose any more weight.” Those can be handled with a simple “Yes”, “Not really” and “My goal is to be healthy”, respectively.

But what do you say to people who give verbal praise? (This can be in any of the above successes.) Peers and family who are unable to give that tangible recognition but are only able to say “You did great on that project” or “You were the fastest in that race” or “You look great!”

Think about those comments. What are your first responses that come to mind. Most likely the response will sound something like “I was just doing my job” or “That’s just because I practiced a lot” or “Oh, I didn’t lose that much!” People tend to be humble when presented with praise. We downplay our successes. We try to not seem boastful.

That is really wrong. In my Booster episode from today (May 8, 2014) I talk about this problem in greater detail. Listen to the entire show for my rationale and a challenge that I am putting out to everyone. You can find the show in iTunes here, in Stitcher (for non-Apple devices) here, and directly from my website here.

Also, I gave a few more shout-outs to reviewers. Do you want to hear your name? Give me a rating and review on iTunes today!

A Success Story! Have You Heard It Yet?

This is a shameless plug for my podcast.

You can easily find MakeYourSomedayToday (in iTunes) or (in Stitcher). If you like what you hear, please leave me a review on one of those sites (or both!) Ratings and reviews serve to demonstrate to each company that my podcast is worth promoting. That is the only way I can grow–if you, my readers and listeners give feedback to iTunes and Stitcher!

I am asking for everyone here to listen to a show or two (or all 10?) and then give me honest ratings and reviews.

The next show that I will promote here is the most recent episode, and it will feature a few unusual foods. If you listened already, you know what I am talking about. I will show pictures and give basic recipes.

By the way, if you want to hear my story, you can find it in MYST Episode 1 at either of the links about or directly from my website.

The Podcast is Up and Running!

I rarely directly ask for help here, but I AM asking now! I need everyone’s help!

I want to let everyone know that my podcast has launched successfully, with three episodes published, and the fourth to be released on Monday, Apr 14. I have 8 more interviews recorded, edited and scheduled for weekly releases, every Monday. I am recording more people every week to stay ahead of schedule. This podcast will run smoothly, with at least one new episode every week.

Make Your Someday Today is available on iTunes right now. 
I am waiting for acceptance to Stitcher, Windows, and Blackberry. You can also listen to it, or download it directly from my website. To be totally honest, the website is rough, but it works. Now that I have a grip (slippery, but it is a grip) on the podcast, I am going to focus on the web page.
When you listen to the show, please go to the website and leave comments on the show notes. If you download from iTunes (or any of the other sources mentioned) please go back after listening, subscribe to get future episodes automatically and leave me a 5 star review!
A few details:
The podcast is focused on helping you succeed, in any goal. I believe that reaching success requires the same steps whether you are trying to lose 50 pounds, write a book, run a marathon, or get A’s in school. It is an interview-based show (most of the episodes, at least) so you won’t be listening to me for the entire show, but rather others who faced challenges and yet persevered to reach success, and now are returning that success to others. You may know of some of my guests, especially if you already listen to podcasts, but the majority of my guests are going to be people like you and me, who set a goal, worked hard, and achieved success. We will learn their strategies.
Most of the interview shows run about 40 minutes. The non-interview shows run 15-30 minutes. The first episode was rough (in terms of sound quality) but I quickly got better.
  • The first episode is my story, and why I feel that I can help you succeed in your goals.
  • The second episode is about how the podcast will work, and the four key steps in succeeding at anything.
  • The third episode is a podcaster/entrepreneur who had plenty of challenges, and stepped outside his comfort zone to help create success for others around the world.
  • The fourth episode (available Monday, Apr 14) is a major blogger (250K hits a month) and cookbook author, who teaches a common sense way to enjoy life and still lose weight.
  • The fifth (available Monday, Apr 21) is the first LoseIt member. Many LoseIt friends will make an appearance on the podcast over the next 2-3 months.
  • The sixth episode will be a podcaster from Wisconsin who experienced a ton of challenges, and yet rose to become a successful business woman and entrepreneur.
  • The seventh will be a LoseIt member from Canada.
  • The eighth is a science podcaster, with 180K downloads a week.
If you want to know more, you need to subscribe and listen! And if you like what you hear (and so far, everyone is giving me good reviews) PLEASE tell others about the podcast in your preferred social media platform. (And a second reminder to leave a 5 star review on iTunes. That is critical to helping others find me easily in the iTunes directory, because placement is based on reviews.)

Change is an Ongoing Process

If you want to change something, there is a defined process or set of steps. Everyone takes all the steps. Sometimes the time lag between steps is brief, and sometimes the duration of one step can be very long. Some people repeat a few steps, but every step is always part of the process. Since I–and many others–are in the “weight change” process, my examples will all refer to that decision.

Step 1: Pre-contemplation
At this point, you don’t even think about a change. Life is happening and you are riding along. You rarely consider your weight, because it is not interfering with anything. Changes only occur when someone decides that an improvement can be made. At this point, you are content.

Step 2: Contemplation
Something has happened. You had an “a-ha!” moment, and it might have been an unpleasant finding. Maybe you were invited to a nice event and when you went to try on your favorite slacks, you found that you needed to coat your legs with bacon grease (why do you have so much bacon grease on hand?) and stand on the dresser while your significant other holds them open so you can jump in. In my case, my blood pressure was up to the point where the Red Cross started deferring me from donating blood. And since I worked in an ER, and knew what happens to overweight guys with very high blood pressure, I suddenly saw the problem and realized the gravity of it. In this phase, you do nothing, but you understand that something needs to happen.

Me, at about 290 pounds, in July 2006

This is a step that many people linger on. It is easy to say “I need to…” but making the decision to do something and acting on it, is much harder. And scary.

Step 3:  Preparation
At this point, you have decided what to do and have started. This can be the most exciting step! You finally are addressing the problem and very often, you quickly see initial results. Maybe you join Weight Watchers. Maybe you join a gym. Maybe you buy a bicycle. But whatever you choose, you decide a course of action and begin. In my case, I found a diet plan (The Sonoma Diet) which was very Mediterranean and looked like I could do it. I started eating the Sonoma/Mediterranean way. And I started to lose weight! In the first eight weeks, I took off 47 pounds. Then….

Step 4: Activation
This is where the action step you chose is in full swing. You are firing on all cylinders. You are making progress, and continuing to follow the plan. You may develop a support system around you, finding strength in numbers. At this point, success becomes a self-supporting machine. It gets easy. Until…you…begin…to falter.

Maybe the action plan becomes boring. The food–the same foods every day–becomes tasteless. The bike ride becomes a chore, and now the seat really starts to hurt. You start finding reasons to skip the gym. The losses slow down, and maybe you stall. These are all the mental obstacles that pop up because you have lost the excitement of the Preparation step and forgotten the “a-ha” event that sparked your Contemplation step. This is where the support system is critical. When you find yourself standing in front of the donut display, and you are thinking “will anyone notice if I lick the display case?” you can send a text message to your supporters and gain the resolve to walk past.

But without that team effort, progress can stop. Regression begins at this point, and again, without a cast of supporting characters in your life, the regression will gain speed.

April 2009, after losing 70 pounds.

For me, this did not happen until I was nine months and 70 pounds into the plan. I just sort of stopped. I thought, “Huh. I guess I’m done now.” I didn’t know about the next step, which is…

Step 5: Preservation
I thought that once I reached my goal, I was done! But in this step, you will continue to learn new habits to lay on top of your bad habits so that you can preserve your success. That takes time. And effort. And you need to keep your focus now, just as when you were beginning your action plan in the Preparation step.

Me? Over the next eight months, I put most of the weight back on. This is not uncommon, and was another “a-ha” moment, which made me re-enter the change process at the Contemplation step and restart from there. Again, this is a common detour that many people make. And like me, many people enter into a repeating loop at this point. I restarted three additional times over the next 13 months, until May 2011 when I found the LoseIt application on my iPod. Once I had my fourth “a-ha” I found a method that has served me well into the Preservation step.

May, 2011, back up to 265. How did THAT happen???

July 2012, about six months at my goal weight, about 185. 
I am still at or under my goal, 15 months after than picture was taken.

Step 6: Termination
This step applies to many changes, but not all. If you are building your home, eventually the builders give you the keys and you move it. Or you find that your retirement fund is large enough that you can stop working, so you turn in your retirement papers and move into the next phase of your life.

Weight loss is a different change, because we keep adapting our thought process. We don’t get a hair cut just once, in the style we like and never get it cut again (unless you are my oldest son), because other changes happen around you, and your hair doesn’t stop growing. We might continue to work, even into retirement, but the definition of “work” may change.

When we reach our goal weight, the Preservation step may need to become permanent. You may need to carefully consider what you eat for the rest of your life. Or, maybe you can stop being so vigilant. We are all different. Personally, I have been at or under goal weight for 19+ months, and I still measure my food and log everything I eat. It is not a burden, so I have no issues continuing. And my LoseIt app is my security blanket. I know that as long as I am able to log my foods, I can keep the weight off. I worked too hard to go backwards. Might that change? Probably. But I am in no hurry to move to the true Termination step.

Where are you? How many times have you looped back? We need to always remember that restarting is not a failure. Failure is when you never loop back and never restart the change process.

Question: What change you working on? Where are you in this process? Give us the answer below so we can all gain more confidence and success.

Also, go to my Make Your Someday Today podcast and stay current with my changes by clicking HERE.