…guest blog from pete thomas (part one of two)

<today’s guest blog is provided by pete thomas, who won $100,000 on the hit NBC reality show “The Biggest Loser” for losing the most weight overall. i (joshua) have had the privilege of meeting, speaking with regularly, and doing some freelance work for pete over the course of the last six months, and am honored that he took some time to write something up for this site. i have started his post with an intro video that i did for pete, that is used to open for his speaking engagements. take a few moments to watch the video first and familiarize yourself with this amazing story.>

pete thomas speaking intro from joshua white on Vimeo.

Hello ‘Love Is The Movement’ Family!!! If you are a part of the family that reads Joshua’s blog, then by extension, you are a part of my family as well. You know, that whole 6 degrees of separation thing ;-) Anyway, Joshua asked me to drop you a note while he is away maintaining his weight on the open seas (definition: eating well but not gaining any weight.) It immediately hit me to write to you on one of the topics I cover when I give speeches about health and wellness. It is the topic of Commitment. Lack of consistency is the #1 reason people fail to lose weight permanently. This is also the very first topic that I cover when dealing with overweight clients. It guarantees me at least a 10% drop out rate – which ironically, is the goal.

It is from a speech, so forgive me if it is not written well (or is that well written?) My expertise is in face to face communication not the written word (or is that words that are written?) And I am a slow typist, so I must really love Joshua to be re-writing this on a Friday night in a coffee shop!

Enjoy…

When it comes to losing weight you have only two choices in the matter.

Commit totally or drop out today. Commit or quit. Those are your only two options. Let me explain…

You probably don’t know that it is actually dangerous for you to start an exercise or nutrition program and not be committed. I repeat – Dangerous! It may be obvious that your body is more efficient at weight gain than weight loss, but you may not know just how efficient. The fact of the matter is that when you start to lose weight, hormonal changes occur inside your body. And as the weight begins to come off, your body is in a state of flux — so to speak. So much so that your body actually primes itself to put the weight back on, and more, if you decide to quit your program. You may have experienced this where you have lost weight and then gave up and gained all your old weight back, plus some. This is the normal way that the human body reacts.

Think about that! You could actually be fatter after you start a new program than before you began! Your health issues could be worse! That sucks!

So Commit totally or drop out today. Commit or quit.

The fact is that you could learn everything there is to know about weight loss, but unless you commit to putting the time in daily to reach your ultimate goal you could be setting yourself up to fail long in term.

Commit or quit.

You must put in some time for yourself everyday. Everyday. Not once, twice or three times weekly. To overcome this ‘weight that so easily overwhelms’ us you will need to put in some time DAILY. Believe it or not, time is THE most important factor in weight loss. Knowledge is a close second.

I once thought that I was the center of the world. Many of you reading this think the same, even through you may not readily admit it. I thought that everything in my life would fall apart if I were not there; my church, my home, my family, my job.

But then I went away into seclusion for 2.5 months with minimal contact with the outside world and I found something out; my church kept going on and having services. My position at the church was filled with the next warm body. My wife made more money with me gone than with me at home. My friends did not miss me and went on with their lives, most did not even take a couple minutes to write to me. Of all the things I thought revolved around me – nothing really did!

My best friend moved a few years ago to Atlanta, GA. from Michigan. He is a writer and currently is a stay-at-home dad taking care of his two kids. His wife is a doctor who is running a very successful OB/GYN practice. He got very ill for a period of time with an infection that attacked his heart. The doctors could not find any quick fix and basically it was left up to his body to fight off the infection. And it took weeks for him to recover.

But you know what happened in the midst of his sickness? What happens when the ‘glue’ of the family gets sick and can’t play with the kids or do the shopping or cook? I will tell you what happens; his kids learned to play better with each other. His wife stopped getting lost on the roads as much. Neighbors and family chipped in when they could. It took my buddy almost 5 weeks to fully recover and the family ‘managed’ without him.

People will ‘manage’ without you. My friend’s family managed without him. Can you let your family manage without you while you take some time off to get your health together? Can you take the time to work out or prepare meals at home or keep a daily food diary? Or take a couple of minutes each day to de-stress?

You are going to have to decide if you’re going to go to every one of your child’s sports games or practices. Decide if you’re going to let your child participate in 4 different weekly activities or cut it down to 2 and focus some time on yourself. Or are you going to work out earlier in the morning or later at night to accomplish your goal?

Commit totally.

Oh I know… How about this; continue to ignore yourself and then keel over dead, and I promise you everyone that ‘depends’ on you today will somehow manage to get along without you altogether once you’re in the grave.

The question is; can you focus on YOU for once in your life??

Commit totally or quit.

(part two of this entry will be posted on friday, be sure to come back for the remainder of this amazing article)