The Day of Reckoning

cue dramatic music…

Last week I laid down the gauntlet. I challenged my readers to join me in training for an athletic event, a race, triathlon, dance-a-thon, whatever. Your assignment for the past 7 days has been to find an event in the next 12 months to train for and to make the commitment to do so.

Quite a few of you wrote to me right away with the events you chose. I salute you, People of Action!

Some others wrote that they would definitely be participating but were in the midst of a vacation/work/family visit etc and would get back to me when you had a chance to look over the possibilities. Awesome, I am waiting to hear back from you.

How did the rest of you make out? Motivated but still too scared? Or just plain convincing-yourself-that-a-sporting-event-isn’t-for-you-ever-don’t-talk-to-me-about-it anymore- resistance-resistance-resistance? Fine. You can lead a horse to water and all that. Just stick around and allow for the possibility that your thoughts may one day change. Or not. Up to you.

So, here we go:

1.) Tell Her About It! If you have not yet told me about your participation, comment below, facebook me, or email me. If you want to participate but don’t want to be public about it, you can tell me that also and I will keep your confidence.

2.) Take a sheet of paper out and write a sentence or two of WHY you are training for your event. Even if this seems totally obvious to you, trust me, there will be dark, cold mornings when, for the life of you, you cannot remember why you need to get out of your warm bed and put your sneakers on. So write out your “why” and put it on your bedside table, bathroom mirror, alarm clock, fridge, the wall next to your bed, taped to your forehead… Your reasons could be anything really, but some common ones might be:

To prove to myself that I CAN
To prove to someone else that I CAN
To be a great example to my kids
To fight back from disease, disability, depression
To raise money for charity (more on that later)
To lose weight (more on that below)
To get fit
To get out of my comfort zone
To have fun
To meet new people
Because Emily pressured me into it (hello, you need to pick a new WHY)

A few words about weight loss:

I don’t know why this is, but I have seldom known anyone to lose weight while training for a long-distance endurance event. When I train for a half marathon, I burn up to 1000 calories per workout and STILL don’t lose an ounce! This may be because long-slow-cardio is not the best fat burner or because our bodies are magnificent machines that turn up appetite to exactly match our expenditure.

Truthfully, I don’t even think trying to lose weight while training for an endurance event is even such a great idea in the first place. You need to fuel yourself well to prevent injury or burn-out. Being in constant calorie deficit is probably not a good training state.

So… if you’ve got weight to lose, start that NOW, before your official training begins. ”But Emily, HOW do I lose weight? I’ve been trying to lose weight for YEARS with no success?”

(giant yawning silence)

Um, hi, my name is Emily Segal and I’m a weight loss coach. You are reading my blog as we speak. Not to be obnoxious, but if you need to lose weight, why are you not working with me? I can get you there without putting you on a diet or yucky meal plan or demanding that you eat food you hate. I design each person’s program to be what THEY want, to hone in on their strengths, and fortify their weak spots. We work together to correct all those misconceptions about weight loss and all that black and white thinking about the “right diet”, this idea of suffering through someone else’s limited plan, and to address any addictions or destructive habits without which, you literally soar right on down the scale for once and for all.

And as a last teeny tiny kick in the pants – more like a punt really – you need to know that at the end of September I am raising my rates. But clients who begin programs BEFORE Sept 28th stay at the current rate for as long as they work with me. It is NOT expensive now and you CAN afford it (actually how can you afford to keep putting this off?). But come Sept 28th, you will need to dig deeper into your pockets, so no more procrastinating!

To make an intro appointment just to give it a whirl, fill out the contact form HERE, or email me at healthcoachemily@gmail.com. I work with people all over the world via Skype. Or in person for those in my area.

So, your assignment for the week are:

1.) Notify me of your participation if you haven’t already

2.)Write your WHY

3.) Get started on a weight loss plan if you need to lose some weight

4.) Watch the videos below (get a kleenex!)

Next post will be about training plans.

For now, I leave you with my most favorite inspiring videos of all times. If you are receiving this via email, you will need to click on the title to view it on the blog. Please do take the few minutes to watch these videos because they may just change your life. If you can watch the story of Dick & Rick Hoyt and not feel a stirring in your heart and a call to action in your own life, well… Just watch: