I challenge you to read this article without tearing up!  A wonderful, amazing story.  It is never too late to make amends and reach out to someone.






Do it today!

http://www.oregonlive.com/living/index.ssf/2012/04/a_teacher_a_student_and_a_39-y.html

Absolutely love this video.  5 minutes long, but worth it.

Stop believing the LIES you've been told - whether those lies were told by your parents, by a cynical doctor - or by YOU. 

Struggling with Weight Loss?

Here is a great article I stumbled across.  The author Jill discusses her "3 P approach to habit change" which stands for "practice, persistence, patience."  I love it! 

She's lost 80 pounds and successfully changed her habits over the course of three years.  Read more about it here.

4 Reasons you should NOT be using Pinterest

Are you using Pinterest regularly?  What is it adding to your life?  My guess would be that it is bringing more bad into your life than good.  Here are 4 reasons why I don’t think you should be using it*.

Before I get into “why not” I’d like to point out one thing that I like a great deal about Pinterest.  It is a very positive environment.  I’ve seen very little complaining and very little negativity.  That is a great thing.  As I’ve written before I believe that the world is an incredibly negative place and I applaud the makers of Pinterest for fighting against that trend by creating a positive community.

1. It is a fantasy world.  Reading through the different boards, pretty much every active Pinterest user is a master chef, a fashion guru, an inspirational leader, a perfect parent, an arts and crafts expert, a world traveler and a ‘spouse of the year’ candidate.  It is fake.  Pinterest gives the impression that “you are what you love” which in some ways might be true (when considering your children, your spouse, your extended family, your spiritual beliefs, etc), but when we apply “you are what you love” to recipes, material goods and clothes we are traveling down the wrong path.  The clothes you wear and the material goods that you like do not define you.  You define you.  The inside you, your thoughts, your joys and your wounds.  Those don’t generally make it onto Pinterest.

2. It creates false connections between people.  Reading someone’s board, it feels like you’re getting to know someone.  It feels like “look at all we have in common!  I love those things too!” But that isn’t real.  As I said above, the clothes we like and the food we like do not define us.  I love this Ted video where Dr. Brene Brown discusses how humans connect with one another.  Her research has indicated that we connect when one of us is courageous enough to be vulnerable.  I don’t see very much vulnerability on Pinterest, I see a lot more candy coating. 

3. It feeds and encourages our materialism.  It fuels the false ideas that our culture has put in our heads that if we only had _____ we would feel fulfilled.  If we could only cook these types of dishes… If we could only travel to these types of places… If only, if only, if only.  It draws us AWAY from focusing on the things in our lives that we are happy about and should be grateful for and it points our focus toward things that we want.  It tells us continually that what we are missing in our lives can be found “out there” in recipes, clothes, inspirational sayings, home décor, etc.  It sends us down a path that does not lead to fulfillment.

4. It is time consuming.  I’m sure we’ve all heard of empty calories.  Too many things in our lives amount to empty minutes.  In our modern lives, time is our only truly limited resource.  We don’t know how much we’ve got and there is no way to get more.  Time spent on Pinterest is time that you could be interacting with your family face to face, talking with your friends about real things, working on yourself, learning, DOING SOMETHING!.  Life is short. 

So, in that vein I will now list my 5 favorite “Quotes” from about Pinterest.  I will include only the texts as I don’t want to infringe on anyone’s photo protection.

5. Pinterest:  Where women go to plan imaginary weddings, dress children that don’t exist and decorate homes we can’t afford.

4. Thank you Pinterest for making me feel creative even though I’ve just been sitting at the computer for the last 3 hours.

3. Now that I’ve wasted an hour on Facebook, I’ll just hop on over to Pinterest and make it an evening!

2. I was going to be productive today, but then I got on Pinterest!

1. Honey, could you order us a pizza for dinner?  I’m too busy pinning healthy recipes on Pinterest!

* Disclaimer:  This may not apply to YOU.  Generalizations are incredibly dangerous and often stupid.  My apologies if this does not apply to your specific life, but please be aware of the possibility that this does apply to your life even though your initial knee jerk reaction is going to be that it does not apply to your life.

User Profile: myown

Today I want to talk a bit about one of our inspiring users - myown from Plano, Texas. 

She joined the loopchange community just about 3 weeks ago and has just successfully completed her first 21 day mission (congratulations!).  That first mission, she chose to "let physical hunger guide eating."  She (like most of us probably) tended to eat beyond the point that she was satisfied, either by going back for seconds or thirds just for the sake of eating, or by snacking for no reason.  Basically she wanted to put an end to the "stuffed and bloated" feeling she was often experiencing. 

As she was working on that mission a very neat thing happened.  She began to read the other missions on the site.  She began to connect with the other users and she began to spend a bit of time each day encouraging the other loopchangers in their missions.  She shared her experiences when she had something to share and she gave encouraging words freely.  She joined the community and pretty much overnight, she became a valued, contributing member who shared he fears and struggles and made a very real impact on the lives (and missions) of those around her. 

Since that day three weeks ago, myown has come up with her own way to use the site.  She has started two more missions on the site and is actively working to improve herself by knocking out one bad/unnecessary behavior after another (Exercise 10 minutes a day every day and Three weeks without junk food).  She is taking control of her life and it is incredibly inspiring to witness.  Just imagine what she will accomplish this year if she keeps this pace up!  She'll be an entirely different person in 2013 than she is here at the beginning of 2012.

So there you have it.  Come see what other folks are doing.  Get inspired.  Start doing something yourself.  Yes January is gone, but don't let that dissuade you!  myown is DOING it.  Others are DOING it.  You can do it too.

The World is a Negative Place

I just came across this great blog post by author Jamie Anne Richardson.  I think it is wonderfully observant and I love that she is going to try and change her circle of influence by LEADING them to a more positive outlook.  Those are many of the things that I dream loopchange will do; take a small group of people and slowly allow our outlooks on life to become positive, breaking free of the negativity that we seem to be constantly assaulted by.

Her post is called Happiness Pledge and I think it is fantastic.  It actually reminds me quite a bit of an old mission on loopchange by a user named #1 (here).  I know that his being intentional with his outlook on life did have a very real affect on him over the course of his 70+ days. 

Mrs. Richardson's actual "mission" (as far as I know she will not be documenting it at loopchange) is:

"Here is my plan: every day for the next 21 days, I am going to focus on finding the good. And every day (that I am within reach of a computer), I am going to post three good things about the day on my Facebook author page."

Go check out her article.  I think it is a very good one!  If it sounds good to you, document it at loopchange!  Who knows how many people your mission will influence!

Drink 64 Ounces of Water per Day

64 ounces = 1/2 Gallon

I want to continue summarizing some completed loopchange missions and today I will be taking a look at 'Woody' and his mission to drink 64 ounces of water per day, for 21 straight days.  Woody really experienced some interesting benefits from drinking that water and successfully formed a habit that will likely stay with him for the rest of his life. 

Here was his initial mission:
    "Historically, I am a terrible, terrible water drinker. When I was drinking, it would not have been unusual if over the course of a day I drank 2 cups of coffee and had 2 beers and not a single other thing to drink. It would not be unusual for me to have nothing but a couple of swallows of water a day (plus coffee). Even when I've been involved with athletics and sweated a LOT, I still just didn't drink much water.

So beyond that, I've got kind of a constant problem with my sinuses. Could it be that I don't drink enough water to keep my sinuses working properly?"

Interestingly, for the first four days, Woody was feeling somewhat nauseated.  Weird!  (after doing a bit of internet research and having some fellow loopchangers chime in with their experience, it would appear that it is normal to experience some stomach discomfort when significantly increasing your water intake).  Anyway, that cleared up in short order and Woody continued on with his mission.

By Day 9, (of drinking the 64 ounces most days) Woody realized that his sinuses were as clear as they had been in years!  He also felt like his sleep at night was deeper and more restful than it had been in a long time.  Just 9 days in and Woody has become some kind of "Water is a miracle cure-all" guy.  


His final update for this mission was on his day 26 when he wrote:
"I actually have noticed TREMENDOUS differences. Keep in mind; I've gone from ~2 ounces of water per day (or less) getting all of my liquid from coffee, fruit or alcohol (not lately) to 64 ounces of water per day.

- My sinuses haven't ever been this clear. I can breathe GREAT out of both nostrils which is unheard of for me
- When I blow my nose; stuff comes out (which is incredibly strange for me)
- I'm sleeping better, deeper and dreaming more - (no idea if this is related - but the timing seems to indicate it is)

I am 100% going to continue on focusing on drinking the water. Thanks loopchangers, for the kind words along the way!"

Pretty interesting stuff.  Is it really possible that someone could see such massive results in only 9 days?  If anyone out there is currently depriving themselves of water and is interested in giving this a try, please let us know the results!

You can view Woody's mission here: http://www.loopchange.com/MissionDetail-5_97_loopchange-Drink-64-Oz-Water--Day

You can view all the current and past loopchange missions at: www.loopchange.com

Habit Swap - Revisited

I mentioned our loopchange Habit Swap plan a few days ago and I included the Fox26 Morning Show interview.  I have another video that goes over the principles of that SWAP plan and I'm including it below just in case any of you prefer 'listening' over 'reading'.

Volunteering!

http://www.loopchange.com/MissionDetail-9_121_loopchange-Volunteer---21-days

We had one of my favorite missions completed a few weeks ago and unfortunately I have just gotten around to blogging about it.  Loopchange user Lt. Dan completed 21 days of volunteering for some cause or another.  It wasn't 21 days in a row, but it was 21 days total (completed in less than two months, so still quite a commitment)!

Dan did not have a history of volunteer work.  In fact, he had already ever volunteered for anything before, but he took the bull by the horns and poured himself into this mission.  He spread his time around a bit, spending an evening or two with a young man in the foster care system who needed a couple of rides around town; spending some time doing clerical work for a local Christian group  and bringing his young children to hand out cookies at Halloween at a local retirement home.

But it turned out that most of his days were spent befriending a lonely World War II veteran at an assisted living facility.  Over the course of his mission, Dan spent a number of hours forming a friendship and building a bond with his new 90 year old friend.  They talked about life and death.  They talked about family and hobbies.  They talked about Jesus and God; repentance and forgiveness. 

I think Dan summed it up well when he said, "I believe it really is true what people say, when you put yourself out there in an effort to help other people, you actually end up helping yourself."

I know that as I was reading through this mission over the course of 21 days, I was struck by how many opportunities there are out there to help.  It could be helping people directly, or it could be helping at an organization where they help people directly.  It could be lending a hand to a neighbor.  It could be a passing word of encouragement to a working person that you cross paths with.  It could be donating blood or money or old clothes or old toys.  Speaking only for myself, I know that I get incredibly wrapped up in ME.  Often times there is not an ounce of room for anyone in my brain who is not ME.  That's just the wrong way to live. 

Dan is on to something here.  Imagine what could be accomplished if even 1/4 of US citizens found ways to volunteer?  We could change the world!

Reading the Bible in 90 Days by K5

This post is long overdue as K5 completed this mission several weeks ago.  I'm afraid I'm just now getting around to getting it moved over here though.  To quickly run through the gist of the mission, there is a book called The Bible (kidding), there is a version of The Bible which removes all footnotes, comments and everything else.  Once all of those things are removed, one can work their way through The Bible in 90 days by reading 12 pages per day.  K5 says that it took her 30-45 minutes per day to accomplish her reading.  Beyond that, there is a DVD and you watch one segment per week (~40 minutes).

K5 was able to finish in 88 days and here was her summary - click the play button and then continue reading (the video offers the soundtrack for the mission summary):

WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

Today was the day. I finished. I have to say the finale was a little bit anti-climactic since I didn't really understand much of what I read in Revelation.

But, looking back over the past 90 days this has really been an amazing experience. First of all, just the fact that I stuck to the program for 90 days and completed all of the reading is a tremendous accomplishment for me. In my life, most of the time, I've been a quitter. I've been someone who quits projects 25-50% finished. I've been someone who focuses on "can't" instead of "will" and finishing this mission really gives me a boost of confidence in those areas.

I know some of you reading this aren't Christians. I'm not trying to preach at you here. I'm just trying to summarize my experience as briefly as I can.

Now for the reading itself. I've heard a pastor at my church say before: "God made man in His image and ever since; man has been trying to return the favor". I didn't realize how much that phrase applied to me until I'd read the entire Bible. I have to be honest, God is not who I thought He was. There was a LOT in there that surprised me. There was a lot in there that I'd have said (if asked) "nah, that doesn't sound like something the God I worship would do". There was a LOT in there that was hard to swallow. But at the same time, I learned that "my" God was no match for the God of the Bible.

In general, I was struck by his faithfulness, his love for his people, his compassion and the things he requires that we do in order to have a close relationship with him. I began (for the first time) to understand what the phrase "God-fearing" really means. I began to see that my image of God was very inconsistent with what the Bible portrays.

All in all - I feel my eyes were opened. I feel awful that I let my own insecurities (I'll never be able to understand what is being said) prevent me from doing this long ago. But I'm thrilled that I'm here now. To read it in 90 days you really have to blaze through pages. I am really looking forward to some more in depth analysis and study of different books in the bible and I now feel like I'm "ready" for that.

Thanks everyone for your support along the way. It is greatly appreciated and having real world accountability combined with accountability here played a tremendous role in my successful completion.

Thank you, loopchange!!

Habit SWAP Plan

It is a big day in loopchange history as we have had our first television coverage on a local news station in Houston, Texas (Fox 26).  Thanks to all who have visited the site for your contributions along the way!

I'll post the link below, but in the mean time here is the Loopchange Habit SWAP Plan that was discussed.

One of the great blessings of being involved at loopchange has been the incredible opportunity to read along with people as they are trying to make genuine changes in their lives.  I've seen people post a single time and never come back and I've seen people who have been at the site for six or more months.  Because I read and follow every mission and every post that is made on the site, it has become clear to me that the missions with staying power have four common elements.  That is where the SWAP comes in.  If you really want to succeed, I recommend that you make sure any mission you are involved in has these elements:

SWAP

Specific - You MUST be specific with your goals.  "I want to read the Bible more" will almost always fail.  "I will read my Bible every day" is on the right track.  "I want to eat healthier" will almost always fail.  "I will cut soft drinks and junk food from my diet" or "I will track my calories and keep them under 1600" will have a much greater chance for success.

Write it down - There is something about writing a mission down that is powerful.  Suddenly our goal seems real.  It is almost like a ceremonial 'ok, I am serious about this'.  Writing down your mission gets it front and center in your brain; which is right where it needs to say for quite a long time.  To change something, you must be intentional.  To be intentional, you must always be aware of what you're trying to do.  

Accountability - It takes a village to raise a child.  It also takes a village to change a habit.  You will need accountability, support and encouragement to get where you want to go.  Trying to do something all on your own is so hard that it isn't even worth trying.  Why do it the hard way??  Make sure you have these things and your chance of success grows significantly.  Loopchange is perfect for this (this is what the site was made for) but I would always encourage folks to get real world accountability as well.  Tell your family.  Tell your friends.  There is no shame in asking others to help you.  Asking for help does not make you weak; it makes you strong!

Patience - The greatest enemy of change is impatience, I'm convinced of that.  We get discouraged when the results are not coming as quickly as we would like them to.  We want to give up when things aren't as easy as we'd hoped they would be.  Patience is absolutely essential because patience is what will get you through the rough patches and the struggles (and there will definitely be rough patches and struggles). 

Now, on to our feature presentation:

Hey You. Yes YOU! Change Your Life.

The more I have been around this 'change' stuff and the more I work to change things in myself, the more I've come to believe the following two things:

First, I think the biggest hurdle in people's quest to become the best possible version of themselves is fear of failure.  It hurts to fail. It is embarrassing.  It brings shame down on us.  There is not much worse than having to say to yourself "well, I blew it again, no surprise there."  That has been a major hurdle in my life anyway. 

The internet is FULL of stories of inventors, sports heroes, businessmen and others who describe in detail how failures in their lives not only occurred, but were necessary for them to ultimately achieve what they did.  I was reminded of this the other day when I saw this old Michael Jordan advertisement:

A few other great quotes:
Winston Churchill: "Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm."
Ben Franklin: " Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out."
Michael Jordan: "I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying."
John Wooden: "Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It's courage that counts."

These are just a few, I'm sure entire books have been written compiling great quotes about failure!  

Second, I think that people generally downplay their successes too much.  It is very easy to look at a success and think to ourselves "ya, but anyone could have done that" or "Ya, but I still can't..."  We downplay our accomplishments and we wallow in our failures.  That is COMPLETELY backward!  We should be downplaying our failures (within reason) and celebrating our successes!  

I believe that making changes in our lives operates very much like a muscle does.  At first, our ability to stick with something, to commit to it, to sacrifice for a goal is weak and feeble, but as we go along and have a few successes (even just a few attempts), that muscle begins to get stronger.  Before we know it we've accomplished something.  Before we know it, we've moved on to a few other things and now we've accomplished several things.  And before you know it, we are able to look in our rear view mirrors and see that those were not small things after all; they were actually pretty BIG things and our attitude becomes "Ok, what next?"  

So get out there.  Pick something small.  Stick with it.  Take it seriously.  Focus on it.  Be intentional about it.  Tell your friends and family about it.  Celebrate your successes.  You can do it.  You deserve it. 
 

Change! Stop Being Afraid!

To take the red pill, or the blue pill. That was the question facing Neo in the mega-hit movie The Matrix. One pill led down the rabbit hole, where all of his questions would be answered and the life he knew would be gone forever. The other pill led back to his own bed and his old life and he would be left wondering if this had all been a dream. Because he's the hero in our movie, he chose the new life. He chose to leave his old life behind and face the unknowns of a world he'd never experienced before.

How many of us would have had the courage to make such a choice? Not many, I'm afraid. For most people, change is terrifying, sometimes even infuriating. Try changing the location of the coffee machine at your office or if you're feeling particularly brave, try changing the flavor of the coffee. Do both and you're likely to need a police escort to your car! Such a meaningless thing, but it would generate such a large reaction.

People hate change. Is it because they like their lives so much? I don't believe so. I read that Oprah recently had a poll on her website where the question was simply, "Are you happy with yourself". A whopping 75% of those polled responded 'no'. Only 1 in 4 of us consider ourselves to be happy. Isn't that shocking? Isn't it sad?
 
So should we conclude that people are generally unhappy and that they generally want to stay that way? That doesn't make any sense either. Walk up to any random person on the street and ask them list off the things that are going badly in their life right now and they are almost certain to rattle off a quick list of five or ten things.

So it's not that we're already happy...and it's not that want to be unhappy. There must be something else to this.

I recently read about a scientific study that had been done on mice. Researchers had set up a pedal that the mice would push to get a food pellet. Once the mice had mastered this, the researchers played a cruel, cruel trick on them. They wired the pedal so that it gave the mice a large shock of electricity at the same time it dispensed the food pellet. It shocked the mice every time they went for a food pellet. Reading the results of that study, it appears that the most a mouse ever went back to that pedal was five times. Never did a mouse go for a 6th time. The mice literally starved to death rather than go back and be shocked again (sounds like a horrible experiment doesn't it?).

I think that as children grow to become adults, with regard to change, we are very much like those mice. I think we've learned that trying to change and failing is very painful. I think we've learned that trying to change all on your own is incredibly difficult. I think we've learned that if we announce to the world that we're trying to change, there will be a long line of people looking to tell us why we won't be able to do it and why we're almost certainly going to fail. I think we've learned that because of their own insecurities, people love to point and laugh when they see someone fall short of their goals.

The world is a cruel place and changing requires courage and thick skin. Those are two qualities that many of us just don't feel like we've got. Not today anyway. Maybe tomorrow. No, not tomorrow, but Monday for sure. Or maybe after the holidays or after New Years.

I think at the most basic level, people don't change because of OTHER people. That is a horribly sad reason to continue on a course that has led to unhappiness. Isn't it time to to start making the best decisions for yourself rather than choosing the path with the least amount of risk or the least amount of difficulty?

You CAN change the way you want to change. You CAN be the person that you want to be. Isn't it time you stood up and embraced your true identity? It all starts with a single choice, a single decision. Make that decision today.

Why Not Now?

We've had numerous inspiring missions begun over at www.loopchange.com including people wanting to get in shape, wanting to quit television, reading the Bible in 90 days, drink more water, keep a journal, etc.

Now that we're beginning to gather some data, the thing I'm finding the most interesting is the large number of people who register for an account, and then never do anything with it.  They don't start a mission, they don't begin to encourage others in their mission (which is a great first step by the way), they just seem to disappear.

That's had me wondering a bit.  Are these people who want to start a mission, but just can't quite commit?  I know that I've often been faced with a wave of fear and anxiety when I've had to make a hard decision.  I think that's it.  I think it's pretty darn scary to actually admit out loud "I'm going to change X about myself."  It sure opens up an opportunity for a visible failure...

I suppose, in their head, people weigh their options.  Do I really want to change this?  How badly do I want to change this?  How hard is it going to be?  How much is the sacrifice going to hurt?  And those things lead them to say Nahhh, never mind.  I'll do it later.

But I think that is a mistake.  I think you are valuable enough that you are worth suffering for.  Yes, it's going to be hard.  Yes, there is a chance you might fail.  But don't let a little fear stop you from being the best 'you' that you can! 

5 Tips for Breaking Habits

Last year, when we began researching the concept for loopchange, we did an awful lot of research about the process of changing habits, the methods people had found to be successful and we stumbled across an awful lot of sketchy information.  Also in that time, I was constantly attempting to perform my own case study using myself and some friends who agreed to be voluntary lab rats for the "cause."

Through my own successes and failures, here is what I've found so far:

1 - Committing to a change of some kind is HARD.  Your first battle will be fought before you've even begun.  You can safely expect a barrage of reasons that you can't do it, that the timing is wrong, that next week would be better.  You've got to tell that voice to shut up!  I believe that subconsciously that is our 'fear of failure' rearing its ugly head.  Failing hurts.  Failing publicly can be humiliating.  Our deepest being knows that, and wants to keep us away from such 'risks'

 2 - Write down your goals.  Be specific and include details.  Vaguely defining your goal leads down the path of failure.  How, exactly, are you going to change your diet?  How much TV will you allow yourself to watch?  The more details that are provided, the more likely the person is to succeed.

3 - Accountability.  At loopchange we help to connect you with people who will be holding you accountable.  Don't get me wrong though, our community is made up of people who honestly CARE about your progress.  They aren't checking in on you, waiting to pick, poke, prod and point fingers.  They are checking in on you so that you know your mission is important to them (because it is).  Finding some real world accountability helps a great deal as well.  Tell a friend or a family member what you're doing.  Ask them to help if it looks like you're struggling.


4 - Encourage other people who are trying to change something about themselves.  I cannot stress the value of this step enough.  The word 'encourage' originally, literally meant 'to put heart into'.  To build someone up.  There is a fascinating phenomenon that occurs when we encourage other people - we feel encouraged and stronger ourselves.  It's fascinating, but true.

5 - How long will it take to change?  The only scientific research I've found on the topic says 19+ days (where the + can be 200 or more days).  There is no set answer, but it will take exactly as long as it will take.

Using my own experience, I've come to believe that the commitment, faithfulness, dedication and will to change is very much like a muscle.  As you get a few successes under your belt and build up your confidence a bit, you'll find that you become significantly stronger in those areas.  When you've faced and completed a mission to change something, it will be much easier to tackle something else.  Before you know it, what started as a scary, anxiety filled experience will become something that you are excited about - and you will find that you'll gain so much momentum that you will be changing left and right.

But it all begins with that single step.  You have to find a way to ignore that voice in your head telling you it's not worth it - because IT IS!

5 Tips for Breaking Habits

Everyone struggles sometimes.  Everyone feels like giving up (at least a little) when the going gets tough.  Here are 5 tips that might nudge you back on course. 

1. Our research indicates that the more detail you give; the more likely you are to successfully complete your mission.  Vague missions are almost never successful.  If you’ve made the mistake of being vague, come on back and get specific in your most current day update.  It is never too late to commit to details.

2. Have you fallen off of the wagon and skipped a few days?  Don’t worry!  Come on back and pick it back up.  Character is not defined by how many times we fall, but by how many times we get back up.  So get up and get back on track.  You won’t be judged by the loopchange community, you’ll be welcomed back with open arms (I don’t think you realize how important you are over there!)

3. Incorporate some folks in the real world to help keep you accountable.  Mention to friends or family members what you’re trying to accomplish.  Keeping your mission a secret almost never helps you.  Don’t be afraid, we KNOW you can do this!

4. Stay focused on sticking with your plan 1 day at a time.  It’s very intimidating to commit to changing something for life.  It’s scary to commit to changing something for a year.  But 21 days, 1 day at a time is do-able.  We promise.

5. Don’t devalue your importance.  When we’re struggling it is easy to begin to believe “it really wasn’t that important.”  That is another way of saying “I’m really not that important.” That is a LIE.  You ARE that important (and more).  It was important enough for you to commit to, so do yourself the service of sticking with it for 21 days. 

So get back on that horse!  If you haven't started a mission yet, then head over to http://www.loopchange.com and start yours today.  It's fast, it's free, it's easy; and you'll be on your way to a new you before you know it.

Have you come with anything the helps you to stick with a new habit?  I'd love to hear about it!

Getting Healthier by Christmas

It's a big week in loopchange-land.  Another mission hit it's 21 day mark.  Paula has now been encouraging and inspiring us for 21 days and her positive outlook on life has been a refreshing reminder that life is good for each of those 21 days.  

She's shared great (and healthy) recipes, she's been honest about her stumbles and she's shown us what character is all about by staring down temptations and making right choices.  She hasn't quite reached her goal yet, but I have absolutely no doubt that she will and I hope she continues updating her mission because I will be celebrating with her when she does!  

I hope you're as inspired by Paula as I have been.  I think she's honest, genuine, open and committed.  I hope you think so too.

 

 

Hi! My name is Paula.  I am 48 years old and have struggled with my weight ever since I married right out of high school. Fifty pounds is what I have put on since that wonderful day when I married my high school sweetheart almost 30 years ago....and he is  still my sweetheart, and we have two children; a son 27 and a daughter 17.  Life has been GOOD, GOD IS GREAT! I have always wanted to loose the weight. I have never dieted seriously, but have always lost about 15 to 20, then gain it back.....and each time I would loose , I would say this feels so good, I am never going to put this weight back on, GUESS WHAT ...I did. I have never been really depressed over my weight.....but knew that I needed to lose it, and wanted to, and wanted to eat healthier and be healthier.

 

 

 

WHAT GOT ME ON THE RIGHT TRACK - My husband and I headed out this past May for our Annual Trip on our Harley Davidson Electra Glide Ultra. The trip this year was to Tennessee and North Carolina…to see the Smokey Mountains. They have some beautiful Waterfalls, and many of them have to be accessed by trails…which YOU GUESSED IT…are straight up the hills and mountains.  Many times I found myself waiting at the bottom of the trails for my husband and friends to return to bring back their stories and pictures. I WAS SO OUT OF SHAPE….my heart had to pump really hard, and it was beating loudly in my ears, and when I did decided to hike up the mountains I was having to stop so often that I was keeping everyone else from getting on up there in a timely manner.  I felt so bad for my husband, because he was having to go with out me.  I could go on more about the trip, and how it affected me, but I think that the point has already been made….lol. I NEEDED TO DO SOMETHING! SO I DID. 

 

We arrived back home on May 31^st, and on June 1^st I started my diet, and started to the gym.  I knew I didn’t just need to be a diet, but needed a healthier way of eating for a life time.  I asked my husband if he was ready to diet, told him I was going to be ready for next years trip…..he agreed and we both are doing it together.

 

LOOPCHANGE…….I accidently ran on to this site……I was searching for some place to record my daily struggles and my daily excitement (when things were going good)  a place to talk to other’s and to share our experiences, our ideas, our recipes  etc. At the time I joined LOOPCHANGE, I had already lost 27 pounds….and was on my way.  I just today made it to my 21^st day,  I have lost another 6 pounds since LOOPCHANGE came into my every day schedule. I am pretty sure that I would not have lost 6 pounds as fast as I did, If it had not been for the encouragement, help, advice and recipes that I got from the nice folks here.  I looked forward each morning to getting online , signing in , and seeing all the comments that had been made on my post….BECAUSE I knew that it would give me strength, encouragement and would just let me know that there are others out their dealing with weight problems and other things just as myself.

 

MY REGRET……is that I have not been able to reply to as many as their post as I would like…my time is limited do to work …..but my thoughts and well wishes were each and everyone of them…no matter what their mission was.

 

 

 

I will continue to update my mission, and I am sure there will be other missions that I will start as well.   I have about 17 pounds to lose to get to my goal of losing 50.  Part of my mission is to lose it before Christmas….I’m certainly going to try…but if not by Christmas….I know that I will lose it not to far from that. 

THANK YOU LOOPCHANGE……It has been a GREAT EXPERIENCE! 

So there you have it.  If you're reading this, why haven't YOU started a mission yet?  You can do whatever it is that you want to do.  There is no better day to start than today!

Lost 10 Pounds in 21 Days!

One of our users has just completed her first 21 days on the site.  And though her journey isn't complete yet, she's truly been an inspiration.  She has a heart for encouragement and is a born leader.  Reading through her mission again, these two quotes sum it up pretty well for me:

Day 1:  Worked out on the treadmill.  I was "aiming for 30 minutes, but could only do 25"
Day 22:   "Thinking about buying one of those recumbent exercise bike's this weekend, I notice that I am getting stronger and now want more options during my workouts, I think before too long my whole living room will be turned into a gym"

If that's not inspiring, I don't know what is!  You can read Sarah's full journey here:  http://bit.ly/qe7V6N
Without further ado, here's Sarah!

Hello, I'm Sarah and I have begun a weight loss journey.  I was very blessed the day I happened to stumble upon loopchange because it has changed my life in more ways than one.  I am 29 year's old and my starting weight was 322 pounds.  I have attempted many times to lose weight and I never stuck with it.  I always just gave up and told myself I might as well face it, I'll always be over weight. I finally woke up and decided I was making losing weight harder than it actually was.  Why not try and start small? So I did.  I began giving up sodas and sweets.  That was not an easy task.  I struggled with it because I loved my soda more than I did water and it felt like an addiction.  I went through withdraws and I fell off that wagon many times but I picked myself back up and continued with it.  Then I began feeling guilty every time I would drink a soda and I learned a trick with water: I hated tap water and didn't really care for bottled water either; I realized I loved my sodas ice cold, so I decided to just start pouring a cup of ice in my water and I fell in love with it. I started giving the soda and sweets up back in April.  It took me at least until June before I knew I finally kicked the habit. I loved cheesecake, Reese's cups and many more but for me, I was very lucky they were not as hard as I thought they would be to give up.
  

  I started watching my weight drop on the scale.  By July I had already dropped 20 pounds by just giving up the sweets and sodas and drinking nothing but water. I realized I can do this and it was time to kick it up a notch.  I decided I wanted to purchase a treadmill and happened to stumble on a very nice treadmill at Walmart and made the purchase.  I got it home and set it up over the weekend.  The week of July 20th, starting that Monday I got online and did a lot of research on treadmill routine's.  I asked a question on yahoo questions and found replies to other people's question that was similar to mine, (I cant remember what question it was I asked now).  Well I read one person's reply to the question and it said to try loopchange.com.  It was a website to break habit's in 21 days and you pick a mission (a habit) you want to break and you begin your mission by writing what you want to accomplish and change; what are your fears and so on, and you update it daily, and others can see it and post encouraging words along the way, and you are held accountable when you mess up.  I figured why not give it a try, So I did.  I started a mission July 20th to lose 15 pounds in one month by eating healthy, learning to count calories and daily exercise. The first day started out great, I stuck to my diet and did my exercise for the day.  As the week progressed I stumbled with days of just not wanting to get up and exercise, or over sleeping and not getting up in time for breakfast, or just flat out not wanting to eat breakfast, or skipping lunch here and there.  I fought through the bumps and the temptations. I never gave up though, I kept fighting.

I found myself one night pulling into Whataburger's parking lot fighting a temptation.  I had skipped lunch that day and figured I could splurge a little at Whataburger, so when I pulled in I saw two cars in front of me and changed my mind and pulled away.  My husband looked at me and said "I am so proud of you", that just completely made my night when he said that and began to change my way of thinking when it comes to food. My husband is my biggest supporter.  We are both in this together.  He still struggles with eating healthier foods and I never force him to change his habit's.  If I cook dinner and its something healthy he'll eat it and be ok with it.  If we swing by subway, I'm ordering a turkey on wheat and he's ordering an Italian BMT.  He has lost a lot of weight so far the way he's been working at his job and especially in this heat and drinking less soda's as well.  Total so far we are about even he's lost 30 pounds and I have lost 30 pounds! Crossing that finish line together as a team!!!!!

My weight loss is not over.  I may have crossed that 21 day milestone, and I still have a long way to go, but with loopchange, I am able to log my daily doings, and it has helped me set a routine for myself, getting up and eating breakfast in the morning, a quick snack a few hours later, then have lunch, then another quick snack a bit later and then supper. It's made me more aware of what I am eating everyday and what I am lacking in eating. I have never liked veggies, so I never eat them.  Someone suggested just having a taste test with them and see which one's you can do and start with that, well I did, so far pea's are pretty good, and I love corn, I am still working on the others and I know I will get there I just have to be patient. I was a major couch potato, I hated doing anything strenuous and just never had the motivation, so i began working out on the treadmill.  I had to start out slow so I wouldnt get frustrated and just give up.  I began doing just 15 minute walks on the treadmill.  I aimed for an hour total at first and decided to break them down. Four 15 minute walks on the treadmill a day, then I would change it to 3 20 minute walks on the treadmill.  I was getting better at the treadmill and ventured on to other things. One day I just decided to get up turn the music on and dance, I really enjoyed that!  It gave me a good workout and it was something different. then I decided to buy zumba for the wii.  Now I really enjoy zumba on the wii and it is very difficult to keep up with but fun at the same time, but I started noticing a little pain in my knees when i would walk on the treadmill and figured maybe with the zumba I was putting a lot of pressure on my knees.  I have two bad knees.  My right knee has pins in it holding my knee cap in place.  My left knee cap goes out of place too but I have not had surgery for it yet. So I have kind of slacked off on Zumba, but have continued on with the other exercises I have been doing.  When I started loopchange, my starting weight was 302 within 3 weeks, 21 day's I have lost 10 pounds and I notice a difference in myself, in my confidence and strength. I never thought I would be one to exercise daily, nor eat healthy, or be able to give up sodas. I have broken so many bad habits in 21 days as well as start good habit's. My weight loss journey is no where near done, but I am on the right track and have accomplished so much already in just 21 day's!

No more excuses I dont want to anymore, this is my time!! My time to make that change I've wanted for so many years~ Sarah!

Thank you Sarah! I can't wait to see where you go from here!!!

Introducing: loopGroups

Today is a big day for loopchange.com.  We are introducing our latest feature (absolutely free, just like everything else on the site).  I think this tool has the potential to be tremendously useful to many, many different types of groups (work out partners, friends, families, church groups, trainers, support groups and just about anything else!)

loopGroup FAQ

 

1. What is a loopGroup?

     A loopGroup is a private group that can be created on loopchange.  Missions and comments made within a loopGroup are visible only to members of that loopGroup.  Be aware, all terms of service still apply and loopchange administrators can see all content submitted into a loopGroup.

2. How do I form a loopGroup?

     On the right side of the ‘Mission List’ page, you will see a link that says ‘join/form a loopGroup’.  Click that link.  Find the section for forming a group and fill out the form.  You will need to name your group; assign a password and then briefly describe the purpose of your group.  All loopGroups must be approved by an administrator.  If your application is denied, you will receive a message explaining why as soon as is possible.

3. How do I find members for my loopGroup?

      loopGroups are for you and your real-life friends/co-workers/work out partners/church members/family/team/neighborhood/etc.  Before forming a loopGroup, you should already have people in mind who you’d like to invite.  Upon forming your loopGroup, you will receive an email with the name and password associated with your loopGroup.  You can then forward that email to those folks who you’d like to share missions with.

4. How do I join a loopGroup?

     If you’ve gotten an email invitation from a group leader, just follow the instructions there.  You will need to set up a loopchange account; validate the account and join the loopGroup using the name and password provided to you by your group leader. 

5. Is there a limit to the number of members a loopGroup can have?

     At this time there is no limit. 

6. Can I be a member of more than one loopGroup?

      At this time, there will be no limit placed on the number of loopGroups you can join.

7. If I join a loopGroup, can I still post in the ‘public’ missions?

      Absolutely!  We believe that much of the benefit users get at loopchange is from encouraging others.  loopGroup members are encouraged to continue to support all users in the public domain.  A loopGroup member can also have both private and public missions going at the same time.  We want you to continue to be involved members in all aspects of the site, not only their loopGroups.

 

Have a question that wasn’t addressed here?  Send an email to admin@loopchange.com and you’ll hear back as soon as possible.

Keeping a Journal for Wife and Kids

Loopchanger - Woody - has done what I think is an amazingly awesome thing.  I asked him here to tell you about it.  Heeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrreeeee's Woody:

Thanks!  I'm really happy to be given the opportunity to share what I've learned through this process that is currently 55 days old (and counting).  It has been an absolutely amazing experience and I believe it has enriched my life tremendously.  Even if the Journals were never read or enjoyed by my Wife and Kids, the benefit that I've gotten is mind boggling.

So awhile back, I was at a conference and one of the speakers was discussing that he keeps a small journal for each of his children.  In this journal, he generally writes a sentence or two every so often when something neat or funny happens.  The amazing thing was that he has 6 kids!!  I can't even imagine.  Anyway, I had actually kept a journal for my first born with sporadic entries through my Wife's pregnancy and into baby/toddler life.  I was probably writing once a month or so.

Unfortunately, when my second child was born, I found that my writing completely dried up.  I think I felt a lot of guilt over the fact that my first born had gotten a lot more entries and at their current age (5 and 2) there was an awful lot more 'interesting' going on with the 5 year old than the 2 year old.  Anyway, this fear of in-equality led to me abandoning the project completely which is horribly sad.  But anyway, this speaker inspired me to begin keeping separate journals for each child with an entry of some kind written every day. 

As sort of an add-on, I decided, why not add my Wife to the mix as well?  And so it was that I decided that I would commit a small part of each morning to write SOMETHING to each member of my family that I got, enjoyed, laughed at or regretted about the previous day.  This was a daunting and scary commitment, but with the help of loopchange and a belief that there was a lot of good that could come from such a project, I committed to a 21 day trial.

It turned out that with practice, I was able to complete my journal entries in just about 15 minutes.  Quite a small price to pay for such a (potentially) meaningful project.  In just the first few days, I experienced some absolutely amazing realizations.  Before this project if I were asked "how are things", my response would have been "nothing new, same old stuff".  But with only 15 minutes of focus each morning, my eyes were suddenly opened. 

Every single day, awesome, inspiring, lump in your throat inducing, hilarious things were happening in my life but somehow I wasn't taking notice of them.  I wasn't dwelling on them.  I wasn't allowing myself any moments to reflect on them and store them away in my memory.  They were very literally passing before my eyes and disappearing from my mind forever.  In retrospect, I find it horribly sad that so many wonderful memories are just lost.  Forever!


As time has gone by, the sense of wonder I get when I reflect on the previous day hasn't diminished at all.  Sure, over the 50+ days there have been plenty of entries where I've phoned it in (normally because of some distraction in my life that is preventing me from getting 'peaceful' before beginning my 15 minutes.  But all in all, it has been wondrous.  Sometimes I write a single sentence.  Sometimes I write a full page.  Some things that I've recorded that stand out in my mind (it will be incredibly difficult to limit this to 5 each):

With my Oldest:
-  first time riding a two wheel bike without training wheels
-  coming to me to talk it over when I'd accidentally hurt her feelings
-  collecting roly-poly's in the yard and researching on the internet what they eat so she could keep them
-  first run-in with some girls at school who didn't like her
-  reading a book by herself for the first time

With the youngest:
  -  first time he said "i yuv you"
  -  first time playing with a baseball and bat
  -  first time he said "I'm Daddy's boy!"
  -  first injury - a little cut over his eye
  -  first trip to Disneyworld (complete with kisses from all the princesses)

And many more, just as good about my Wife.  My only 'rule' is to keep it positive.  I don't re-hash arguments or use the journal as a means of getting in the last word or re-hashing arguments.  All in all, this mission has very literally changed my life. It has also given me an entirely new 'approach' to parenting and marriage.

If I don't have SOMETHING interesting to write each morning, some interaction, something to laugh about, something interesting, something touching, etc then I'm not doing it right (it being parenting and being a husband). 

To sum up - EVERYONE should be doing this.  It will absolutely change your life.