TEAM CHALLENGE FINALE BREAKS RECORDS!

I'm so excited about the close of our 7th season of The Team Challenge. I thought I'd post the blog here in case you don't hear about what's going on at the clinic!
here's what happened yesterday!!!

You did it...You broke the all time Team Challenge record! You had 93 pounds to lose yesterday...you lost 194! Congratulations to all of you!

What a night it was! After an outstanding 10 weeks, we celebrated victories last night!
We initiated our new space in a big way. We had over 120 in attendance last night to witness the final week of this Team Challenge!

Let's talk about some winners!!!
We had our final team wins at noon, 5 and 6:30. One last time teams were named winners for the week. At noon 'Barely Breathing' won with a 3.81 %. Donetta and Tanya gave it their all this week...and it paid off big time! With that % of weight loss, they also won the Glenda "Oops" award of $100!

At 5:00 'Team Gazelle 2.0' took the win with a 1.77%. Patty and Steve were celebrating more than just that win...Steve entered into one-der-land yesterday! You guys are an inspiration to so many!

At 6:30 team 'Tie Diet-ers' won with a 2.96% of weight loss. Up until last night, Cathy and Steve were the most consistent team without a win...they blew that out of the water this week! Congratulations you guys.

We had many awards to give out last night before we announced the winning teams for this challenge! Here's a look at some outstanding outcomes!

Female with the greatest weight loss: Rosie Lundquist 43 pounds!
Male with the greatest weight loss: Mark Cole 54 pounds!
Female with the greatest % of weight loss: Karen Glafka 21.52 % (greatest EVER)
Male with the greatest % of weight loss: Steve Gehlhausen 18.58%
Our team with the most weight loss was 'Slightly Waisted' with 84.2 pounds!

We were GREATLY inspired by a couple of donations this week... The client with the greatest % of weight loss this week, and the second greatest % of weight loss would win these amazing prizes! Two round trip air line tickets wherever Alaska flies donated by Denise Phillips, and 5 personal training sessions and two weeks of free classes at the Strada training and fitness club, donated by Amy Ruger, courtesy of her brother-in-law and owner of Strada, thanks Paul.
1st place for the week: Donetta delaRosa with a 4.90 % of weight loss!
2nd place for the week: Veleta Lundquist with a 4.63% of weight loss!

Congratulations to you both and thank you Denise and Amy for igniting the fuel in everyone this week!!

And now...our top three teams of this Team Challenge:
3rd place, winners of $300. Team 'Tie Diet-ers' Cathy and Steve 16.41%
2nd place, winners of $500. Team 'Slightly Waisted' Rosie and Veleta 17.38%

1st place, winners of $1000. Team 'Losers Are The New Winners' with a weight loss % of 18.54!!! Congratulations Karen and Cindy. You came in second place at the last Team Challenge and you fought through this one to take your place at the top of the podium! We're so proud of you! You look BEAUTIFUL!!

It was an amazing 10 weeks. MUCH was accomplished! People are losing weight, that's for sure but more importantly, lives are changing. I'm so proud of the effort of this group of people. To walk beside you as you support and encourage each other has been an honor! I'd feel little sad today, but I really don't have time for that! We've got a bridge to cross in the next two weeks and then we've got a Spring Team Challenge to begin on April 12th! Can't wait to see you then!

Happy trails to you, until we meet again...
With great love and encouragement,
Letha

We've Busted Out The Seams!

As I sit this Friday morning I can't help but write about what's going on at The Healthy Weigh! December of 2011 will mark my 30th year in the business of helping people lose weight and live their best life...and I've never been more excited!

Next week The Healthy Weigh will close out their 7th season of our new, life changing, "Team Challenge." This season we had 74 Teams of two sign up to compete, have fun, and most importantly, lose weight for life. Thursday, the 24th at our grand final, we will be setting an all time record for the greatest % of weight loss of any Team Challenge! Our clients are having more weight loss success and learning more, than in the history of the company, I couldn't be more thrilled.

Over two years ago when we moved to our new location, we hoped that we could fill up our new space. We have a large room that seats 50 or more people and we believed that "if we built it, they would come." Well, they have, and we're on the move again!

For the last 6 months or so, I've coveted the large empty space right down the hall. It's twice as big as our spot and I allowed myself to dream that I would be there someday. Problem was...twice as big, meant twice as costly. That was not an option for me, so I just kept dreaming. Dreaming pays off!

My fantastic landlord, here at The Timbers, cares about The Healthy Weigh and saw that we were busting out of the seams! He came an offered to let us "use" the new space, without additional rent! An offer to good to be true? Yes, but I took it! The tenant improvement is almost finished and just under the wire, we will be holding our Grand Finale next door in the BIG new space next Thursday night at 6:30!
We are hoping to move our entire operation over in the next 6 months! We're pretty excited!

As I continue to dream about what could be,this new space opens up great possibilities. We will be having BIG events and creating even more excitement with the capability to serve more people at once!

If you are reading this and haven't been around for a while, I invite you to come and enjoy the grand finale next Thursday evening at 6:30 in our new location! We have room for you now!

April 12th we will be beginning our 8th Team Challenge. I am Believing that we will have over 100 teams participate! Currently we have over 30 teams signed up and ready to go! I can't wait!

My encouragement for today...dream!

Letha

On Second Thought

I'm reading a good book right now. It's called "3 Seconds" By Les Parrott, PhD. It's a great book encouraging the reader to breathe in , breathe out, and change your life!

Three seconds, an insignificant unit of time? Not according to Dr. Les Parrott. Three seconds is enough time to give your first impulse a second thought. That makes all the difference sometimes between wishing you could change things and actually
transforming your life. In three seconds you can move from "Whatever"... to "Whatever it takes!"

So many of us believe that our first impulse, or thought, is right, and it sabotages us. These self-defeating impulses emerge automatically straight from our unhealthy belief systems. What if we took three seconds to breathe in and breathe out and allowed ourselves to act on our second thought?

Our first thought might be: "There's nothing I can do about it."
Our Second thought: "I can't do everything, but I can do something."

Our first thought might be: "Someday I'm going to do that."
Our second thought: I'm diving in...starting today!"

Our first thought might be: I'll do what happens to come my way."
Our second thought: "I'll do what I'm designed to do."

Try the pause this week, just three seconds, breathe in and breathe out then rethink that first impulse and consider your second thought!

Always encouraging you,
Letha

Will walking help me lose weight?

Something almost everyone of us can do today to enhance our permanent weight loss journey is walk. Walking promotes weight loss, and it is often easy to maintain a walking program, especially since the cost is minor, and a walk can begin as soon as you step outside your door. The amount of weight you lose depends upon your metabolism, the amount of calories you are consuming and the type of walking. A ten minute walk daily will not likely result in much weight loss. Walking an hour, five days a week, at a pace of about 2-4 mph can, however, burn quite a few calories.

Studies find that a combination of reduced calories and walking are most effective in promoting weight loss. Walking alone may still provide some weight loss benefits, particularly if your calorie consumption is not overly high to begin with. If you add calories to your diet because you are walking, you may not see weight loss benefits.

Walking at 2 mph, a relatively slow pace, burns about 26 calories per 10 minutes. In 30 minutes the benefits increase and the average person burns about 79 calories. Walking at least thirty minutes is considered better than taking three ten minute walks a day because greater time spent walking means elevating your heart rate. As your heart rate increases, more calories are burned.

Picking up the pace and walking about 3 mph almost doubles the benefits of a half hour walk. You’ll burn about 125 calories in a thirty-minute period. As you get more comfortable walking at slower paces, you can begin to burn even more calories by including a few minutes of extra fast walking to increase heart rate. When you can walk a mile in 15 minutes, you’ll burn about 370 calories in an hour.

Walking more quickly and for longer time periods also contributes to greater calorie burning abilities for the rest of the day. Any type of cardiovascular exercise gets the heart pumping at maximum heart rate for your age and health means the body treats calories differently for the rest of the day. Generally, even if you are sedentary after a walk, you’ll burn calories at a higher rate.

Most fitness experts recommend beginning a walking program slowly, and further, most say it helps to use a pedometer to measure speed and distance. The first week, the only goal is to walk thirty minutes a day, five days a week, at a comfortable speed. Week two should include a minute of fast walking each day in your thirty-minute workout. Week three should include two minutes of fast walking or jogging. You should continue week by week to build ability to walk very quickly to increase calorie burn. As fitness increases, you can also increase time of walks, with an ideal goal of one hour of walking, five days a week.

I wonder what thinking and dreaming we could do on our walks? Not only does walking burn calories and aid us in our weight loss endeavors…it helps our mental attitude which has EVERYTHING to do with how we act. Put on your runners and head out this weekend!

Always encouraging you,
Letha