Veronica was one of the first people to use Luuze back in June when I started beta testing the app. She didn’t actually need to lose weight, wasn’t even looking to lose weight, but as a good friend, was open to helping. She managed to lose 8 pounds (or over 10 pounds according to the scale), and a lot of the adjustments she made to her lifestyle helped her in doing so. Her story is below.
Disclosure: Veronica has been a good friend of mine for years. However, other than adding links and sharing my thoughts in italics, I made no edits to her story.
If Luuze has helped you, I’d love to hear your story! Send me your wins, no matter how big or small, at andrew@luuze.com.
Veronica’s Journey
As a change manager, I have worked with various organizations to plan, assess and implement support and transition strategies for wide-scale change. Technical change is one thing, like introducing a new technology solution or revamping a manufacturing process. The appetite for people to embrace and adopt change is another, and some may argue, more important. The change journey really starts with one fundamental question – “WHY are we doing this?”
I’ve known Andrew, the founder of Luuze, for many years. We would meet from time to time to catch up and I started to notice his gradual weight loss. “Andrew, what is your secret? You are making amazing progress!”, I beamed. He laughed and replied, “Thank you, I weigh myself daily.”
One day over lunch, a few months later, he shared the exciting news that he was developing the Luuze app. Again, his weight loss remained noticeable. “Will you help me break my app?”, he asked. I was intrigued and jumped on the chance to help test the app. After all, whatever he was doing was working well and the daily habit of a weigh-in was spearheading his transformation.
I got myself all set up with a smart scale and downloaded the app. I started to get acquainted with the app by following the instructions. When it came to setting a goal I had no idea what to record. “I’m not really looking to lose weight,” I thought to myself but entered a somewhat small goal – lose 10 lbs in 4 months.
According to Luuze, I set a reasonable goal and confirmed a realistic expectation for myself. With the daily weigh-ins, Luuze started to track my progress and summarized my stats within an intuitive dashboard. My trend weight would fluctuate week over week. I then started to get competitive with myself and wanted to see the downward trend! Small daily adjustments started to happen, such as having one cookie instead of two. Skipping out on the soft drink. Eating dinner by 6 pm and fasting for 12-14 hours, ensuring to eat breakfast by 8 am. I was constantly reflecting and experimenting with what was working for me. I continued to walk my dog daily, go on long bike rides on the weekends, and run 5K at least once a week with my running group. Luuze kept guiding me along and I was determined to keep going.
At the end of my journey, my final trend weight was 130.7 lbs. I didn’t hit my goal and was off by 1.5 lbs but I was still winning! My initial defining motivation was “break Andrew’s app and give him constructive feedback,” which then changed to, “get that trend weight line to slope downwards and hit my goal.” My answer to “why am I doing this?” may not seem glamorous but it doesn’t have to be. Your why will help you understand YOUR desire for the change and serves as that gentle reminder to stick with it. Also, reflect on the associated benefits that the change will bring you. For me, I helped a long-time friend test his app to make it better and I embarked on my own (unintentional) journey to lose a few pounds.
Veronica Kong
– Seasoned management consultant, animal lover, baking enthusiast
Progress
Andrew’s Thoughts: Lessons from Veronica’s Journey
I like this story because the lessons are actually quite different from last week’s success story, Darla’s story. I’ll share a few of my thoughts below:
Your Defining Motivation is Yours
I’m a big fan of the importance of a Defining Motivation to help a person lose weight. Veronica’s motivation may have not been as glamorous as mine was, but it was HERS, which is the most important thing. Whether you want to do it for yourself, for others, for noble reasons, or for totally selfish reasons, or even just for random reasons, knowing why is often a major key in getting started and sticking with it.
Play to Your Advantages
I’ve known Veronica for many years. She likes to help people, and she also likes to challenge herself. I think one of the reasons she was able to succeed with weight loss because she connected losing weight with two things that she is: a person that likes to help people and someone who likes to challenge herself.
I did the same: as a former engineer I loved data, and so I used Luuze’s numbers to support me through the journey. I’m a process guy so I created rules to help me lose weight.
It kind of makes sense, doesn’t it? If you connect weight loss with your talents and what you’re good at, it’s going to help. On the flip side, if you’re trying to force a square peg into a round hole, it’s going to be difficult. Think about where you’ve succeeded in your life and find a way to integrate that skillset into your weight loss method. If you hate exercise, it might not be the best thing to use to try to lose weight. If you love bread, going on a keto diet might not be the thing that gives you the highest odds of success.
Experiment
This is probably a universal lesson but it’s worth repeating. Veronica mentioned she was constantly reflecting on what was working. This is honestly one of the key reasons anyone will succeed with Luuze: the solution is within them. Luuze can act as a catalyst to help people stick with the process until they discover it. Luuze can also help people improve the process as they continue with it. Track, Reflect, Adjust. That’s the foundation of repairing the feedback loop.
Perspective is Everything
I really like how Veronica DIDN’T actually hit her goal (although she did hit it on the scale), yet still treated the journey as a win. Because her journey was a win! You can’t deny that she made better choices and improved her healthy habits, and those are big wins. There are plenty of non-scale victories that occur in a weight loss journey. Although Luuze does focus on the number on the scale as a tool to provide feedback, it’s actually important to recognize that there’s more to weight loss than the number on the scale. Make sure to look back at all you’ve done to see the non-scale victories that you’ve made in your journey.
Andrew, I saw your story on the news and downloaded the app before the news hour was over! I’m 73 and have those extra pounds that come with ageing, slower metabolism, and retirement when you’ve got more time to spend in the kitchen. Five years ago I had a mild heart attack and received stents to fix the problem with my arteries. At the time, the cardiologist said that my diet and lifestyle were fine although I could tweak it here and there. I just had inherited this condition (as had others in my family). I don’t have to lose a lot of weight but I tried some well-known programs. They worked for a while but none were long-lasting. It’s not too hard to lose some weight fast but it’s the long-term goal that’s more difficult. Like Veronica, I’ve started by having one cookie, not two with my evening tea. I’ve cut my serving sizes down. I’m more conscious of having more vegetables on my plate. Nothing I’ve done so far leaves me feeling deprived. Better yet, if I do have a treat I don’t feel guilty. I like your app and your system. I particularly like the daily feedback when I enter my weight. Unlike many other diet plans that recommend weighing yourself once a week, I find that weighing myself everyday keeps me motivated. Today, just over 2 weeks using the app, my trend weight has gone down 18 measurements in a row. Now that’s motivation!
Sheila, that’s awesome! Thanks for sharing!