It never ceases to amaze me how many people are at the cusp of making a decision that will catapult their lives forward but allow fear to stop them in their tracks.
Making a choice is an action, therefore not choosing is also an action.
If you are stuck, choose to push through the resistance and take control.
If you are unhappy, choose to rid your life of negativity and take control.
The fact of the matter is we all have choices. And the choices you have or haven’t made up to this point define your position in life.
Consistency in any capacity is king. If you consistently take action towards your goals, you will gain success sooner or later.
If you consistently give up on yourself, then you are giving away your power to choose!
What will you do with this crazy, wild and beautiful life of yours?
My wish is that you do not waste it…….
The following is written by a bootcamp member and the lessons she has learned since joining our bootcamp family and taking part in The Biggest Winner Challenge.
With her permission, we hope her lessons can inspire you to choose to consistently BE Change.
Take it away…
I am sorry to say that when I got on the scale this morning, I was at the same weight as when I started the competition. While I am disappointed with this result, and feel really really terrible for letting my team down, I actually feel like this was a good result for me because of the learning that has come from it. This isn’t to excuse myself from taking responsibility for my choices throughout the past 10 weeks, but I feel like this process has been a success for me because I finally understand my role in my struggles – and understand more than when I lost 14 lbs in the last competition.
Initially, things seemed to be going fairly well; I had lost 6 lbs in the first 6 weeks. Then I didn’t check my weight for a bit and lo and behold when the next weigh in was requested, I had gone up. And the next week, despite thinking I was eating well, I went up again. I knew, and know, that this is 100% because of eating. But I seemed to struggle between differentiating the good days from the bad days, and went up in weight even in times when I thought I was doing great.
I realized a few things during this process that I think will help me moving forward, even though it’s too late for this competition:
1. Keeping a food journal is key
a. It’s funny that was Josh’s post the other day, but I realized last week that a big driver in my lack of success is because I was seriously underestimating how much I was cheating. When you record everything, even if you don’t focus on the calories per se, you can see how quickly that cookie or chocolate every day really adds up, but it’s only when you see the pattern and trend that you understand how it’s impacting you. It’s surprisingly easy to think you’re eating great and only cheating “a little” when you’re actually having 1-2 cookies or high-cal treats per day – and man do they add up! The funny thing is that it’s not even that you can’t cheat – you can, but you just have to actually know that you’re doing it, otherwise when you’re blind to the amount or the frequency, it’s easy to overdo it.
2. Crabs/Vampires actually come in the form of really nice people.
a. You might think you know which people are trying to undermine you and you can tell and avoid those people…but when people are “just being nice” by bringing you an ice cream to celebrate something, or picking up chocolate on the way home cause it’s been “one of those days”, it’s harder to see the sinister impact of their kindness. And I do believe that many of them mean well, but it really takes putting your foot down and explaining that while you appreciate the thought, it actually makes things harder for you and because they care about you, they are probably willing to change.
3. I don’t “need” or “deserve” a treat after a bad day or when I feel sad
a. What I need, and truly deserve, is to feel great about myself and my fitness and to be confident in every aspect of my life. When I make good food choices, I am not depriving myself – I am actually giving myself the gift of the positive outcomes associated with clean eating, including fitness, confidence, beauty, and above all, happiness.
I had a huge epiphany yesterday that I think will change the course of how I approach this stuff.
I work in management now, and it’s been a lot of hard work to get here. And one thing that is very evident to me is how many people come and say they want to be a leader, they want to move up and develop their careers. And I say, ok well here is what you do – define where you want to go, find out what (if any) education you need and go get it, reach out to managers/leaders in that area and go for coffee, participate in the courses we offer and take advantage of the resources available through the company, etc. Then when I circle back with people, they are disappointed and frustrated because they aren’t moving forward or moving fast enough, and I ask: “well, did you do these things?” and inevitably they did not…or they started and gave up, or they have some excuse as to why that won’t work for them personally because they are different. It’s actually really frustrating, because I put this effort into providing them with information and resources and I know if they just took advantage of that and put it in practice they’d have no trouble with achieving their goals. But over and over they just don’t listen and don’t use the information. And yesterday I realized….that is me at Bootcamp!!!!
Everything I learned in this 10 week process, Josh, Karen and The Bootcamp Effect team has already tried to teach me 10 times….and I have all the tools and resources I need to be successful – I know what I need to eat, I know how to eat clean, I know how to exercise, I can lift heavy weights and push myself….I just don’t put it into practice consistently, and then I whine and complain and feel frustrated. But absolutely everything I need is at my fingertips, and has been for ages, I just have to go and actually DO it!!!! It must, actually, be frustrating for the trainers to see that, not just me but the numerous people like me who could easily be where we want to be if we just listened and acted.
So, despite feeling bad about letting my team down, I am ok with my poor results in the competition because it helped me to be self-reflective and have some major personal awakening moments that will make me stronger and better. I learned a huge lesson – that I am the my biggest crab/vampire, because I am what is holding me back, through my lack of action and critical, negative focus.
Thank you for all your support!
The Bootcamp Effect – Results or Excuses. Not both.
