On Not Reaching Goals aka FAILING

So tomorrow ends my New Year’s Diet Bet. I hosted a 4 week challenge to lose 4% of our body weight in 4 weeks. Those who accepted put up $20 and everyone who reaches the goal splits the pot. We ended up with 655 players and a $13,100 pot. As of tonight the group has lost over 3,553 lbs.

That’s INSANITY!

In an awesome way, of course.

There’s only one teeny tiny problem.

I didn’t reach MY goal.

That’s right.

Unsuccessful.

Didn’t happen.

I….

FAILED!

dun dun dun

I kid, of course. It’s not really bugging me that much.

Don’t be afraid to fail. Don’t waste energy trying to cover up failure. Learn from your failures and go on to the next challenge. It’s OK to fail. If you’re not failing, you’re not growing. -H. Stanley Judd

I kind of knew it would happen when I got home form Italy. I still had 4 lbs to lose and only 7 days to do it. I guess I could have starved myself just to reach that number but I don’t crash diet. Not anymore. After 15 years in the yo-yo diet cycle of hell, I’ve learned my lesson.

What is the lesson?

I mush on, making one decision at a time, continuing to making forward progression because there is no going back.

I don’t want to go back.

And there’s no way I’m going to let some stupid number on some stupid scale convince me otherwise.

Because really…

at the end of the day…

it’s SO much more than what the scale says.

It’s about working together, with you, to live a little more consciously, a little healthier, and a little more active. Lowering the number on the scale is great, don’t get me wrong, it’s the reason why so many of us start, but it can’t be our only measure of success. It’s NOT our only measure of success. I may not have reached my goal but many of you did and together we lost over 3,500 lbs. We helped keep each other going, motivated, and inspired. Oh! And we raised $655 for the Hurricane Sandy Jersey Relief Fund!

Not bad for “failing” if you asked me!

So I’m ready to try again and I hope you’ll join me. I’ll be hosting Roni’s Diet Bet 2, another four week challenge, from February 1st to February 28th.

To join the challenge, players each add $20 to the pot, which is divided up among the “winners” at the end of the game. DietBet doesn’t work like The Biggest Loser, it’s not winner-take-all. Instead, everyone who loses at least 4% of their starting weight will get an equal share of the pot. DietBet supplies “referees” to verify weights using a photo-based weigh-in process.

The pot breaks down like this…

85% of the total is divided among all the winners5% goes to DietBet for management, credit card fees, etc.10% goes to me for hosting the game. Half of which I will be donating to The Alliance for a Healthier Generation

If you’d like to join me for another round, sign up here.

Official stats from our first challenge will be verified on Friday, and if you won the last bet your last weigh in will double as your first weigh in for this new challenge.

This is how I mush on. I hope you’ll join me.

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Reaching Your Weight Loss Goals

What are the essentials you need to successfully lose weight and attain your weight loss goals?

The saying “you are what you eat”, does have a grain of truth in it. Your body weight will depend on the types of foods that you eat. For example if you follow a non-vegetarian diet you will weigh more than someone who is a strict vegetarian and eats lots of fresh veg.

To lose weight and take control of your diet, you need to take a long hard look at what you actually eat in a day. Lots of people miss this point, and go chasing off after the next fad diet to hit the market. In reality fad diets can do more harm than good to your body. In most cases fad diets will prohibit certain food types which can mean that you will be starving your body of essential nutrients that it needs to survive. When you body realises this it will start to store fat rather than burning it to produce energy. So the result will be that you may well lose weight initially, but when you stop the fad diet you will in all reality put back on what you have lost and a bit more besides. Some so called fad diets do have a place in a weight loss program, but only ever short term for a quick boost.

There is not an easy way to lose weight, but there are a couple of essential things that you will need in order to be successful with your weight loss.

Firstly, you will need a definite weight loss goal, and you will need self-motivation in order to achieve your weight loss goal.

So define yourself a weight loss goal. For example, how much weight would you like to lose over a certain period of time? Are you looking to lose just 7lbs, or is your weight loss goal to lose 40lbs or 100lbs? For those that need to lose more weight it will of course take a longer time, and be harder than those that have just a few pounds to lose. Setting yourself realistic weight loss goals is important as this will effect your weight loss plan.

If you meet your goals you will be encouraged to continue with the weight loss program, but if you do not meet them then you will become discouraged and maybe even stop trying to lose weight. So don’t make your goals unrealistic. If you set your first goal up to be a weight loss of 10lbs in five days, then it is not going to happen (unless you follow a fast weight loss short term diet plan), so you will fail, feel miserable and find your diet program harder to stick to.

Set yourself a realistic weight loss goal. Now think about what is motivating you to lose that weight? Do you want to look better? Feel Better? Fit into an outfit for a certain date? Has your doctor advised you to lose weight?

Whatever your own personal motivation is to lose weight, jot it down and keep looking at it when you feel discouraged. No-one else needs to see this, or know what your motivation is, this is purely to help you to keep yourself motivated to reach your weight loss goals.

fat loss plan and stomach muscles

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