Weight Loss Challenges at Work are a Trap: Don't get Sidetracked from Living your Healthy Bucket Life!
The first of the year brings a chance at new beginnings! And your company may offer a weight loss challenge to encourage you. Nice intentions…
But it's a trap!
I've fallen into this trap many times myself. I've entered three, won two. Yay, meeeeee!
Wait a minute…
That means I was fat enough to enter a work weight loss challenge Three Times!
The lowest I ever got in those manic attempts at health was 205. For a day. After regaining my water and celebrating my victory in proper unhealthy fashion, I was pushing 215, two days later.
And then of course. Because my diet was still the same, over the next couple of years…
I Gained it all back. Back up to 240 pounds
Repeat
What the hell was I doing to my body?
So now I stand in front of you at 185 with more muscle than I've ever had. Wearing clothes I haven't fit into for 20 years. I seriously kept shirts and jackets for that one day that I could fit into them again. Well, one day was yesterday. Today, they're a bit loose.
Perhaps, a big reason for my weight loss can be directly tied to the reasons behind the loss. Those times I was going to lose weight and get paid to do it. This time, I just want to get healthy. I just want all the fat off my body. I don't care how long it takes. I don't care how many times I treat myself. I don't care how many times I fail. I'm living with a healthy diet. And my healthy life puts constant downward pressure on my weight.
Don't lose weight to get healthy. Live healthy and the weight will lose itself.
3 Reasons Even your Success will = your Failure
1. They only reward weight loss, not muscle gain. If you replace 20 pounds of fat with 20 pounds of muscle, I call that a huge win. The best strategy for a short term is, Don't Gain Muscle! A terrible idea. You're going to need some more muscle if you're going to live your bucket life.
2. The best way to increase your chances of winning would be to start 'cutting weight' the day before. That amounts to losing as much water weight as possible for 24 hours. Sauna, cardio, sweat suits, etc. I've used this strategy to lose 8 pounds of water in a day. Stupid. It's a great strategy to win, but it's Horrible for your Body!
3. If you win, you'll want to celebrate (I wonder how!). If you lose, you'll want to console yourself (I wonder how!)
So promise me right now, PASS on the weight loss challenge. Don't do what they all expect!
Lose the weight alongside their challenge. And when you lose more weight than the winner and everyone says "You should have been in the challenge. You could have made a lot of money!" You can smile and congratulate the winner. Then watch as they all regain their weight since they don’t have any foundation to lean on. Winners and losers alike. You'll be thinking to yourself, "I look like a million bucks. You can keep your chump change!"
- Greyson Hawe
