Have You Started Your Experiment of One?

By , SparkPeople Blogger
I get asked all the time: ''How did you do it?  How did you lose the weight?''

If you know me by now, you know that I’m perfectly willing to share my story with anyone who will listen.  I share my story with the hope of inspiring others.  One of the things that I always try to share is that there is no quick fix.  Let me rephrase that: There is no healthy quick fix for weight loss.  It took me time and effort--yes, effort--to put the weight on.  The best way to lose that weight was with time and effort.

Now, it’s time for some confessions.  How many of you have ever purchased ''how-to'' weight-loss books or the latest fad fitness equipment?  I’ll admit that I have bought some fad equipment in the past that promised abs of steel.  Wasted that money, right?  How many of us have ever decided to do what a friend did to lose 20 pounds, only to falter and not lose any in the long run?  Have you ever found a nutritional plan that worked for your favorite celebrity, only to find that it didn’t work for you?

We all do it.  We may not admit it at first, but we do it.  We follow the latest trends with all the hope in the world that it will work for us.

News flash: You, my friend, are an EXPERIMENT OF ONE! 

You are an experiment of yourself, and guess who is running that experiment? You! I heard Greg McMillan say this at a seminar a year ago, and I’ve used this phrase over and over since then because it’s true.  What’s the first thing you must decide when running an experiment?  Typically, the first question you ask is something along the lines of, ''What will the end result be?''  You are doing the experiment in order to find a result of something, right?  In this case, the result will be something very personal to you.  You are not looking for a result of celebrity X, or a result of a machine that somebody developed. You are researching what your results will look like.  If you are looking for your results, why are you still trying the processes of others? 

The next step in an experiment is laying out the steps involved to find the results. This is where you might rely on books, friends and other means of collecting data about this journey.  I encourage you to do all of the above.  Read other stories--there are hundreds of success stories on SparkPeople. Seek out the members that have succeeded and ask them questions.  Read a book or two if you feel the need for that.  Talk to a doctor if you have a concern that requires a professional opinion.  This entire step of the experiment involves preparation, which is very necessary; however, don’t let this phase linger on too long.  Research as much as you feel necessary to formulate your plan.  This is your experiment--there is no wrong process here.

The next phase of this experiment is execution!  Yes, you have to actually execute the plan if you wish to see results.  Reading, talking and researching are all good things, but if you really want to be seeing results, you will have to take action.  Your experiment will require adjustments as you move forward.  That is the awesome part of your experiment.  This experiment is all about you and nobody else.

As with any experiment, you must collect data as you go. This is the part of the journey that you may not like to do.  You may think that it takes too much time, or you might not like doing it. Well, now is the time to get over those excuses. Collecting the data required to change your life is critical.  The data you need to collect is actually quite simple. There are two parts to the data collection: nutrition and fitness.   You have the Nutrition Tracker and the Fitness Tracker at your fingertips.  It’s simple and critical to have this feedback to understand how the experiment is evolving.  These tools will help you see what/where you need to make adjustments in your experiment.  All the tools you need to collect and analyze this data are available and are absolutely FREE at SparkPeople.com. I recommend it! Start your experiment today to start seeing results!

How is your experiment going?  Are you collecting the data necessary data to have successful results?