Personal Values

This past weekend, I spent my time at a Weight Watcher leader training workshop, BLS or Basic Leader Skills. This BLS workshop is a 3 day, 2 night, pass or fail class that brings you into the final step of becoming a leader for Weight Watchers. I'm happy to report that I passed and will begin now my 4 weeks of Leader Mentoring.

There is no doubt that in those 3 days I learned more about what this company stands for than ever. I am confident to be representing a company that cares so deeply about their members. As we learned, the meeting isn't about us as leaders, it's about the members connecting with each other. We are simply facilitators.

There are two things that I learned this weekend that really spoke to me, and therefore, I'd like to share for food for thought.

The first thing -
Out of the 30 trainees at this workshop, not one of us lost the same amount of weight. I believe it ranged from 15-150lbs. Between the 30 of us, they did mention we lost a total of over 1,700lbs. Pretty impressive! A few trainees brought up the issue regarding those who have lost a smaller amount of weight, say 15-25lbs. How do you react when members have the attitude "Well, (s)he ONLY had 20 lbs to lose. How could they POSSIBLY understand what I am going through when I have 100lbs to lose?" Before this training, I had the same attitude, sort of. I kind of felt like they had an easier time because they didn't have 70lbs to lose like I did so they didn't have to struggle as much. The insight we all gained, was NEVER just say ONLY 25lbs or ONLY 15lbs. They posed this question to the group, "How many of you joined Weight Watchers because your pants didn't fit how you wanted them too?" I'm sure you can guess, we all raised our hands. That put it into perspective. Regardless of how much weight we had to lose, we all encountered the same feelings of disgust with our bodies, uncomfortable feelings in our clothes, etc. The feelings were what someone who had 25lbs to lose could relate to the person who had 100lbs to lose. And the success of hitting achieves, like starting to exercise or losing your first five pounds, they all relate the same feelings. It was all very deep, at least for me.

The second thing I learned that really stuck with me, were personal values. It is not a surprise to anyone, I like to "toot my own horn." I've worked extremely hard and everyone deserves to "toot their own horn." However, the more you make this a lifestyle, the more you begin to think you are an expert. The more you push your personal values on others, but state them more as FACT inside of VALUE. We learned that what is so great with this program is we can all come together looking for the same outcome (weight loss) but the road map during that journey is completely different for all of us. The example they offered what when they asked "How many of you exercised to lose weight along with this program?" Some of us raised our hands...not I. Showing us that although not all of us took the road of an exercise routine right away if at all, we all meet at the same destination. So to tell someone, "You HAVE to workout if you ever want to be thin" is simply a personal value. It is not a fact. I lost the first 50lbs or so without lifting a finger, I chose to begin working out on my own. Not because someone told me I had to. We are so quick to say things we do or believe in as a fact, when IN FACT, they are likely a personal value. I am going to try to be conscious of this in my everyday life when talking to friends and family about whatever topic. I know I tend to push personal values rather than offer suggestions.

Moving on...

I wanted to share that I tried something new today with a friend. I tried Bikram Yoga. For those that don't know what it is, it is a Yoga class set in a room that is 105 degrees and is 90 minutes long. Throughout the 90 minutes you complete 26 poses. Let me tell you, 105 degrees is HOT. I was soaked head to toe. I was proud that I made it through the 90 minutes, completing each pose. My balance as improved a great amount throughout this journey and although I'm wobbly at times I recovered nicely. I am looking forward to going back and getting stronger. I have an unlimited amount of classes for the next 30 days. While I am completing those classes I will start thinking of something new I can try next month! Have you tried anything new lately? If you haven't, what would you like to try that is new and how can you go about doing it?