(Click the thumbnail to see the spike in views the day after I changed the thumbnail)
While we haven’t really spent a lot of time marketing our project yet, I’ve been experimenting a little bit with our YouTube channel and a few of the videos there. By changing the thumbnail and keywords in the description, I was able to see a dramatic change immediately…going from 20+ views a day…to nearly 200 views per day. Pretty interesting, just how important that thumbnail is! I think once you start getting the momentum of more views…the numbers consistently get larger each week…or at least it seems like that so far!

You know I normally hate this question…because this whole idea about getting into great shape, changing your life, has to do with just about everything in your life (I know, that’s not the answer you really wanted to hear).  So to try to boil it down to 99% this or 20% that sometimes seems pointless to me.

I was thinking about it a little more, and I think that while diet is probably more important, because you can really do so much damage with bad eating habits when compared to the amount of exercise you can do in a single day.  For example, the average person might be able to do about 500 calories worth of exercise each day…but easily eat 1000 or 2000 more calories than they should.  So from a mathematical perspective, diet is most important…because you can’t lose weight if your diet is bad, but you could lose weight if you rarely exercise.  So in the end, a bad diet is far worse than lack of exercise…so if you really want a percentage of importance, do the math.  If your basal metabolic rate is 2000 calories per day, and you eat 2000 calories, then I suppose your exercise is 100% of your weight loss - because you won’t likely lose weight without it!  If on the other hand, you consume 1500 calories, and do 500 calories worth of exercise, it could be 50/50!  But, let’s say you eat 4000 calories, and do 500 calories worth of exercise in a day.  You’re still 1500 calories over your BMR, so…well, I guess that means that neither contributes to your weight loss - BECAUSE YOU WILL GAIN WEIGHT!

Ok, so maybe I didn’t clear things up.

At the end of the day, we must realize the important role each plays in our weight loss and fitness goals.  To try to omit one or the other can be counter productive…especially because it’s pretty common that people who exercise regularly are more careful about what they eat, because they don’t want to be wasting their hard work.  So if a regular exercise plan RESULTS in better eating, then how important is exercise?  Pretty important I’d say!

Weight Watchers has been around for a long time, and there are very few people who’d say bad things about the program.  That must mean there are valuable things to learn from it, right?  So why are there so many overweight, lifetime members of Weight Watchers?

I’m not going to pretend to be an expert of the WW program, because I’ve never actually followed it myself.  So many of the the things I’ll suggest are based on observations and just theories that seem to make sense.  I think that most people view diet programs as “on” or “off” — they don’t see the tremendous variance that exist from one person’s plan to another…even within the same plan.  Hopefully what you will find is that there are people who follow WW better than others, and those are the people who, logically, succeed.  Here are some ideas that might help explain what I mean:

1) Oversimplifying what the program is.  Many people have followed diets and never really understood the whole plan…they get the gist of something, and just start following a set of rules, that really only might be part of the plan.  We see the quite often with the Atkins diet, where people don’t even read the book before they start eating bacon, burgers and the cheese off of their pizza.  I think it’s pretty much human nature to do this (I seldom read directions on anything myself until I have a problem)…but often this can make or break a program’s success.  Why?  Because there are subtle things that we skip over that actually are important.  The general idea that WW followers can eat ANYTHING as long as they stay under their points for the day is a big draw of the program, but often this may lead to the inability to adjust their foods to healthier options, because they have it set in their minds that anything means ANYTHING.  The general education of what are better choices is a process that many people skip over, often because they don’t think they need to know much more to stay on the program…this leads us to the next point…

2) Accountability.  This of course, is critical for every single weight loss plan out there.  We are the WORST at holding ourselves accountable for going over our points, because we easily will stop counting when we know we’ve blown the top limit even with our “flex” points for the day.  So the question is…is someone else watching what we are doing?  This doesn’t always matter for everyone, but it does for most of us.  Whether someond attends meetings is a big factor in success, not because of the information they give per se, but because of the weigh ins.  The weigh ins each week are ultimately the bottom line that directly relates to how well the point system has been used, because if you eat within your targeted points, you will most generally lost weight.  Going to meetings and being “forced” to see the results of our actions, we become well aware that the more times we exceed our points, the more times we don’t lose weight, or even gain weight.  Those who fail to make this connection often stop going to meetings, and the rest you can probably predict…Even lifetime members get to a point where they don’t think they need to meetings anymore, and this is a false sense of confidence that we all gain, when we think we know what we’re doing. Accountability it seems, has less to do with what we know, and more to do with what we don’t want to know.

3)  Human Error.  The point system is generally a good way to track what you are eating, and while I might suggest calories and other nutritional information are more easily accessible, counting points works…as long as you are accurate in your counting.  Because a point may equal anywhere from 50-70 calories, there is always margin for error in many areas of the WW plan.  Do you underestimate your points if you consume a little too much of a particular food?  I would think it’s a common thing to give yourself a little leeway on points if you have just an extra serving…which could mean 2-3 extra points (or 150 - 200 extra calories).  How often might this happen?  How many times do we “guess” at the point value of an unknown food “in the wild” — and how off could we be?  If we are off by just a point 5 times throughout the day, we can be consuming 5 extra points that we kind of ignore, and that could mean 250 or more extra calories per day!  From a weight loss perspective, this can add up fast.  Remember, to err IS human, so it’s probably likely for most people (I would have to guess that the program in general has a buffer built in to combat this process, but some people are worse than others)

4) What are we learning about food?  Many WW people you talk to may really not have any concept of protein, carbs, or fat…and their relationship to their diet.  While these might be considered “more advanced” topics for some, they are topics that all of us really should learn, at least by the time we’re senior citizens…since it’s not all that difficult.  The WW program often focuses on fat and fiber, so most people on the program ARE aware of these things, but often not much more.  They are always searching for foods that have lots of fiber so they can subtract points!  It’s not a bad thing…just an incomplete perspective.  So if one is following WW and actually learns over time what foods are more valuable than others, which ones will satiate us (make us full), and which ones will make us want to eat more…the success rate goes up!  I’ve seen many people’s WW food logs that have hardly any protein meal after meal, since the point system doesn’t really care much about it.  I am assuming that these topics are disucssed in meetings, but I can’t say from first hand experience.

5) Exercise.  This is another wild card.  Whether people on WW exercise or not has a lot to do with a) whether they go to meetings, and b) whether their group leader exercises.  Everyone on WW will tell you that you can subtract points if you exercise, but very little stress in general is placed on how much and how hard to exercise.  This might be by design, to add to the draw of the program (that exercise isn’t necessary), but it’s a really big gap when it comes to success in weight loss.  Whether we go for a walk or not, often can mean a Sunday stroll at 2mph, or a sweat inducing workout at 4mph…and the difference in calories burned could be twice.  Most people would like to believe they can skip this part…but for the long term, they can’t…it is absolutely critical for long term maintenance, because it not only makes us more aware of our bodies which translates to better eating…it gives us the flexibility we need in addition to “flex points” so that we can maintain a balanced lifestyle with indulgences here and there for years.

Anyhow, that’s what we’ve seen.  What has been your experience?

One of the key themes of the film as it comes to change…is that we often will try to anticipate how we are going to change, but the truth is, we really can’t.

Each new experience we have, each new obstacle we overcome, changes the way we think, and it isn’t something we can see coming.  The best we can do is have faith in the process of change, and the idea that our brains adapt to new paradigms rapidly…often in just a couple of weeks we find we think totally differently about a topic like food or exercise.

We see this happen all the time when people are willing to monitor their caloric intake for a week or two.  They first think it’s going to be a big pain…and sometimes it is, but after a couple of weeks, we realize that we don’t eat all that many different things, and having a general concept of how many calories are in an order of fries, a soda, or a burger…are very valuable things to know…and they change our thinking from a big picture…because these bits of knowledge we do not forget…and so our behavior can be profoundly changed with just a little extra knowledge.

The same thing is so common for people who claim they are “not runners” or they “cannot run” — most people who are out of shape cannot run!  So the process of changing someone’s way of thinking has to do with gradually running just a little bit each day or each week, until suddenly in just a few weeks, we find that running isn’t so bad, because over time if we’ve stayed consistent, our body adapts to running…so the shift in thinking actually sneaks up on us…but often it’s our anticipation of how it will work that prevents us from doing anything!  Running is just an example of course, as this applies to so many things in our lives…cooking our food, working out in the morning…we can actually do anything if we just push through a period of discomfort.  The more we do this, we more we begin to be more confident in our own capabilities.  We have seen this so clearly with people who have transformed their bodies…they’ve overcome so many very personal obstacles, that they really do believe they can do anything…and it is true if they believe it!

So…stop anticipating and start pushing your limits.  You will be sure to surprise yourself every time!

I’m back!  Ok, so don’t get any ideas…I am likely to go back to editing and not blog for a while.  Anyhow…

I’ve be wrestling with some issues dealing with our film, as it comes to our female documentary subjects…keep in mind, that I’m not defining the programs our subjects follow, although as we proceed to follow these people, we do try to help them at the breaking point, where they might normally quit what they are doing.  So here’s just an observation based on the many people we know who have been incredibly successful during the weight loss/transformation process -

It seems as if women have a greater need for a strong social support network when trying to lose weight.  Obviously, we see this with programs such as Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig, where the clients are predominantly women, but we’ve seen so many women fall off track, and ultimately quit, when they have no real strong support or partners while attempting to lose weight.  It seems to make sense, as women’s thoughts and behaviors may tend to be more emotionally driven, and often our emotions are directly related to our interaction with friends and family…and coworkers.  So it would make sense that women might be more easly swayed to eat due to emotional stress, or swayed by friends or family who are bad influences.

I’m not saying that women have less willpower, but I do think that a critical key to success for women (in general) is that there are strong positive forces in their daily lives.  This might be a supportive spouse or boyfriend, a workout partner, trainer, or group of friends who have all decided to get into shape.  We have seen an incredible challenge for documentary subjects who have little positive support in their lives for their weight loss goals, and plenty of negative influences when it comes to eating junk food and not exercising.

So, while it holds true for all of us, men and women…women do need to pay more attention to those who surround them, and the role they play in staying on track.  However, it just so happens that the male subjects we’ve followed have had some positive influences in their lives…so it may just be coincidence and it might be the same for us all.  Choose your friends carefully!
Thoughts?

Recently I’ve heard of several people, including some of our documentary subjects, who have fallen a bit off track (some might call it a relapse).

Often, “relapse” is a term used in the world of addiction, and I guess this term can be relevant in maintaining healthy eating habits as well. The truth is, anyone can relapse, no matter how successful they’ve been in the past. There are no guarantees that we can always stay on top of things.

So the good news, is there’s no reason to feel like a failure if we’ve gained some or all of our weight back.

I remember when this happened to my wife and me, just after our honeymoon. We had worked so hard to get into great shape, only to let it slowly slip away in a matter of a couple of months. We were on our way back to where we started!

But then, something stopped us - call it luck, or whatever…but we were fortunate to have an external event stop us down the path we were going. The people from the Body-for-LIFE contest, began calling Mariah to interview her about her physical transformation - because she was in the running to win the contest! While it was exciting - it was a wake up call! Who knows what would have happened if we never got the phone call. Nevertheless, it was at that moment when we decided to turn it back around - and get back on track.

We learned a very valuable lesson. No matter how quickly and how successfully you lose weight and get into great shape - you can gain it back even faster! One bad meal a week, turns into two or three. Two extra pounds quickly turns into 5 or 10 extra pounds…and that’s when we stop weighing ourselves. Because we don’t want to see how bad it’s become. We think we are just a few pounds away from our goal, so our minds allow us to stay comfortable with the idea that “we know what to do”. This however, is the problem sometimes. Our confidence gets the best of us, and we forget that our motivation to stay on track gets negatively affected the further we have to go. So as we allow that “comfort zone” to widen, our ability to motivate ourselves to stay on course weakens.

This happens to many people every year. Weight Watchers lifetime members stop attending meetings, because they don’t want to see the damage they’ve done. The very accountability that helped them succeed is exactly what they do not want — because it’s a tough thing to face the fact that while you were so successful, you may be back to where you started. It’s like almost getting to the top of a mountain, and slipping, only to end up at the bottom again, looking up at the distance to climb back to where we had ascended to.

Everyone always says, the difficult part is “maintaining”. While this sounds good, there’s nothing mystical about it. There isn’t going to be a time when we no longer love to eat pizza, cookies and candy…our favorite foods will always be there for us! Temptation is always around us, and the social tendency is to eat with friends and family, to celebrate and to cope with life events. So this idea that we can eat perfectly forever is really difficult - impossible to do all the time, for the rest of our lives. We won’t always be able to eat right, and we will (most of us) fall of track from time to time. The key, we have discovered, have more to do with understanding the importance of constant accountability and goal setting in life - and when we get rid of our accountability and fail to set new goals, we inevitably start to lose ground. So the so-called Yo-Yo diet syndrome has less to do with dieting and more to do with our human nature…to eat what we love to eat!
Ultimately, we can only choose to go in one direction - the right one, or the wrong one. So I say, might as well head back now…for us, it was a valuable lesson, that while we can be so successful, we can also lose track of what keeps us accountable and motivated, and easily let it all slip away. If you’ve gained some weight back that you’ve previously lost, don’t worry, consider yourself smarter for it. Time to head back.

“Some of the best lessons we ever learn, we learn from our mistakes and failures. The error of the past is the success and wisdom of the future.” — Tyron Edwards, Theologian

We’ve been getting a lot of inquiries lately about WHEN our film will be ready. I suspect it’s because a lot of people are hoping to get some good ideas and motivation as they enter into a new year, with their new year’s resolutions! I won’t go into extreme detail on some of these ideas, but I will try to summarize some of the most important lessons we’ve learned along the way. Here goes:

1) One person can make all the difference. If we can find a person who makes us more successful we must STAY CLOSE to this person, because one person can steer us in the right direction (this might be a friend, mentor, coach, trainer). Also remember that one person can also make all the difference in a negative way. We have to remember this, that while our will can be stronger than outside temptations, being realistic about the people in our lives that influence us will give us a better chance of success every single time. Remember, EACH OF US, can be that person who makes all the difference in someone else’s life.

2) Consistency is the key. There are many factors involved in weight loss, but the most important we’ve seen, is the idea of consistency. When we commit to eating right every day of the week, instead of 3 or 4 out of 7 days, the results we will see make all the difference from a psychological perspective. This holds true for exercise too. If you can exercise 6-7 days per week (not overdoing the amount or the intensity), the change in our mindset toward exercise makes us NEED to exercise every day. This important psychological change happens in nearly everyone, but the first 3 weeks are the tough part. Exercising almost every day doesn’t give us the opportunity to put it off until “tomorrow” - because we know our goal is to do it every day. It is not so much which “diet” or which “exercise” we choose, but it’s more about how consistently we can conform to some sort of structure.
3) Moderation is the ultimate goal. Nobody can really sustain extreme behavioral changes forever. Some of us need to make them in the beginning to see really early success, so we remain motivated. Still, we must understand that our ultimate goal is to devise our OWN lifestyle that is balanced, and can include most things in life, just as long as we understand the consequences and remain in tune with what direction we are going. If you start out trying to exercise 2 hours per day, you will burn out and will eventually quit altogether, so start small (20-30 minutes) and allow your mind to adjust to the changes in lifestyle over time (not too gradually, but don’t go overboard from the beginning).

4) Intentions are not the same as actions. We all “intend” to do the right thing when we enter a restaurant. We all “intend” to exercise after work…but we need to realize that often our intentions are sidetracked by sudden impulses or stresses in life. When we can develop strategies that alter our behavior and make us more consistent, our intentions become more aligned with our actions. (If you are trying to lose weight, going out to eat more than 1 or 2 times per week is testing your will to follow through with your intentions. If you find you cannot be consistently good, you have to be honest with yourself and not go out to eat so much).

5) Most of us have no idea what we are capable of. It’s sometimes good to remind ourselves that ALMOST EVERYONE underestimates what they can do. This allows our minds to open up to new possibilities, new challenges in life. It also helps to get a mentor, coach, or trainer, whose job is to help you learn what your own potential really is, because most of us do not really see it clearly. (If you think you’ll never be a “runner” - you are only limiting what you are capable of doing). Life is short - stop limiting your life’s experience and go for it.

6) We do not hold ourselves very accountable. Our minds are tricky, and our brain plays tricks on us all the time. Even when we know what we should do deep inside, we can almost always come up with a reason why we can eat something bad, or skip a workout, and it all makes such great sense in our minds. After all we deserve a break, a treat, and we’ll get back on track on the 2nd Monday of the month, right? Don’t fall into the “I’m going to do this all by myself” mentality. Find AS MANY external accountability measures as you can, and you will be infinitely more successful. Journals, weight loss groups, coaches, and workout partners all make more of a difference than you think.

7) It is often the little things that make all the difference.  Don’t ignore any obstacle, because it could be the sole reason you do not succeed.
More to come…

I wish everyone could understand the perspective that each single individual has the incredible ability to alter human events, every single day - far beyond their own lives.

I reflect upon each time anyone, a stranger, a friend…ANYONE, has said something positive to us about our project, or helped us for nothing in return.  Some may think our team is made up will go-getters, who refuse to fail at anything, who have unlimited motivation.  That is far from the truth!  Self-doubt is something we encounter each day, and whether we like it or not, it impacts our ability to act at times, and hinders our momentum.
If each day, when we choose to act, we understand the impact our actions can have on another person, positive or negative, we hopefully guide our actions to make more of a difference.  It can be the smallest thing, a phone call, an email…even a blog comment, that changes how we attack our day, and it always amazes me how much good it does on our own perspective.

Thank you, to everyone who has ever lifted us up, given us greater hope, that our project can do something important.  You have made an incredible difference.

It’s a tough thing to look at oneself objectively and to see what is really going on with our lives. Most of the time we just see things through our own eyes, and try to make sense of it all.

But I guess my hope is that by watching our documentary, many people will be able to take a step outside of their bodies, and understand how they themselves think, rationalize, make good decisions…and bad ones. This is something that we all can do I believe, as long as we don’t go crazy doing it!

Can we see through our own rationalizations (some might call these excuses) and find ways around them? Often it is our ability to really analyze what we are saying to ourselves, that determines how well we can break through old thought patterns and create profound change in our lives. Is it really “impossible” for us eat breakfast even if we’re not hungry in the morning? Do our schedules really not allow us to exercise 20 minutes every day? Is it true that we just weren’t born as “runners”?

Most of the time, we have found, these are self-imposed limitations which become self-fulfilling prophecies. So the challenge then becomes, for each of us to evaluate what we really want out of our lives, whether it’s money, wealth, companionship…ANYTHING - and learn to identify the obstacles we place in front of ourselves. Because these obstacles, no matter how real they may seem, are usually only obstacles in our own minds. AND - they stand between where we are now, and were we dream to be in life.

Sometimes we wait, expecting that all the stars come into alignment, and it finally becomes “the time”. This “wait” can often be years, decades even. We enjoy the short term decisions we make to eat poorly, and abstain from exercise, but we fail to see how much richer our lives are when we feel good about ourselves. This is the challenge…to get people to understand how much the payoff is worth. Every time, with every person, the payoff far outweighs the effort - in hindsight. It is before and during when we question it all so much.

Some people think that all the people we’ve encountered in the making of this film have had tremendous success, and that it’s what the movie is all about - succeeding.  Not so!  We’ve actually had a lot of our documentary subjects disappear, give up, and stop communicating with us.  The one thing we’ve learned over this long process is that it’s so easy for many of us to give up on our greatest hopes — and we think this happens for many different reasons.

While we truly believe this idea applies to all of life, let’s look at it from a perspective of weight loss.

In the beginning, we may feel there is so much hope for change, and we’re inspired to act.  So we begin this process of weight loss with all the excitement in the world, believing that anything is possible.  Many of us will react to adversity in different ways, and it has a lot to do with our perception of our ability to overcome things in life, particularly to lose weight when things aren’t going our way.

Whether it’s lack of progress, stresses at work or at home, we begin to question whether the food changes, the exercise, is really worth it.  We think…

“Maybe this isn’t the right time in my life to do this.”

“I am just too old for this.  Nobody my age can really get into great shape.”

“My body is just different.  I shouldn’t expect to really get much out of all this work.”

“Why are people so focused on their looks?  I think people should feel good about themselves and accept who they are.”

“Nobody has all of the things going on in my life, like I do.  So they just have more time to do this than I do.”

“What’s the use?”

Ok, so I’ll be the first to admit, that these thoughts to cross my mind all the time, but the perspective of what they may really mean to me have become vastly different over this filmmaking process.
Yes, these are all EXCUSES!  Don’t feel guilty if you’ve thought about them…everyone does from time to time.

The truth(s) are:

1) Life-changing decisions can by made in a single instant.  While some of us wait for all the right conditions to succeed, it is when we decide that we are going to overcome, that we are able to ignore our negative thoughts.  You can decide this very instant, that you will change your own life.  Don’t expect someone else to do it for you.

2) Incredible change is possible for all of us, and it happens rapidly.  If we choose not to try, are we OK with being unhappy, depressed, and complacent about our lives?   Don’t expect the world in a month.  This will take several, as long as you work at it.

3) It is worth it.  There is nothing more important in the world, than our health and our happiness.  (If you disagree, feel free to email us and tell us what is more important in life.)

4) If you think you’ve tried it all, think again.  Most people have just not put it all together, even when they think they have.  There is so much that all of us still have to learn, and nothing comes to us instantly.  This process of change happens over time, because each time we hit a new milestone we learn something new about ourselves and what we are capable of.

If life seems dismal, hopeless, and just plain awful at this moment, remember the hope that things will change can come from within.  Without hope, you will stay depressed, for who knows how long.  Reach out to those who push you in the right direction to get your mindset ready to give it another try.

So stop feeling sorry for yourself, get back up and give it another go.