Good Things Come To 'Those Who Weight'

Lisa Hightower's own 140-pound low-carb weight loss sparks an idea

A couple of weeks ago I shared with you a proposal for a "million pound march" that was sent to me by a reader and I challenged others to take this idea and run with it. Now one of you has.

Her name is Lisa Hightower and she is an incredible 140-pound Atkins weight loss success who came up with an excellent idea: create a project that would encourage 500 successful dieters who have lost at least 50 pounds and kept it off for a minimum of six months as well as 500 aspiring successes who are in the midst of losing to share what's working for them.

She calls this ambitious plan the Those Who Weight Project.

The stated purpose of the project is "to gather, assemble, and publish information from weight loss experts about success and failure in weight loss efforts." Oh boy, just what we need is another group of so-called "experts" telling us what WE need to do to lose weight. But it's not what you think.

Does Hightower enlist the help of doctors? Nope. How about the dime-a-dozen self-proclaimed diet and weight loss gurus floating around out there with their "proven" formula for success? Not a chance.

The real experts are...well, YOU AND ME! That's right! Hightower realizes that tapping into the very people who have been overweight or obese and then overcame it have a whole lot more empirical and practical knowledge about what it takes to lose weight and get healthy for good. She should know following her own remarkable success on the Atkins diet after allowing her weight to reach 338 pounds in 2003!

"Those of us who have spent a lifetime, to this point, chasing the dream of being thin and 'normal' are the ones who really know what works and what doesn't. I'm not talking about actual diets, but rather, the mental roadblocks we face along the way to better health and fitness."

Man, I'm so glad Lisa has taken the lead and is undertaking this effort because it is sorely needed in our culture full of twisted information about what a healthy lifestyle is supposed to be. The needless obstacles we allow to pervade our minds is arguably the most difficult aspect of bringing about permanent weight and health control. I know this from my own personal experience losing over 180 pounds and keeping it off for the past three years. It ain't easy, but it can be done!

No matter where you fall in this journey, Hightower wants to hear from YOU! That's why she has set up a customized survey for people to fill out according to the category that fits them best:

Are you a weight loss success? Fill out the Successful Losers Survey.
Are you still in the process of losing weight? Fill out the Aspirers Survey.

Hightower is confident that this undertaking will be worthwhile because it will clearly show discouraged overweight and obese people through the power of real life examples that permanent weight loss is not just an impossible dream, but is well within their grasp.

"Help really is out there; but sometimes it takes someone who has walked your same path to tell you what's really going on. Many times, the solution is much more about getting your head in the right place, and until you do, your efforts may not be rewarded with the results you want."

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU, Lisa Hightower! Not only are you living proof that tremendous weight loss success is indeed possible, but now you are harnessing the tremendous power of the Internet to reach out to others so we can bring our collective wisdom together in an effort to help others. What a truly noble effort and I am proud to say I have already put in my two cents worth into the Those Who Weight Project by submitting my success secrets. :D

It took me about 5-7 minutes to fill out the set of questions in the survey. And regardless of where you are in your weight loss efforts, Hightower wants to hear your story "if the information is worthy of helping someone else!" That even includes those of you who have had difficulty losing weight and keeping it off (haven't we all at some point!).

Rest assured that your privacy will be honored by Hightower for her project and she will never share your personal information with anyone without your express consent to do so. When she publishes the information about her Those Who Weight Project, Hightower will provide proper attribution to the comments and quotes she uses by indicating the first name of the person only with the occasional mention of the full name of people who permit her to do so (take my story, for example--she can use the name "Jimmy Moore" all she wants since I've got it all out there front and center across the World Wide Web!).

If the online survey is too tedious for you to fill out or if you'd prefer to do it via e-mail, then simply send a blank e-mail for the particular survey you are wanting to fill out to either to successfullosers@thosewhoweight.com or aspirers@thosewhoweight.com.

Also, whether you participate in it or not, you can keep track of the latest news and information about Lisa Hightower's Those Who Weight Project by signing up for her updates at subscribeproject@thosewhoweight.com. I'm excited to see what comes of this and I strongly urge all of my readers to help Lisa in some way to make this effort a success. Good things come to "those who weight," ya know?! :)