This will be the final post for this Healthy Wage Weight Loss Challence series because I won! The challenge began a little over 6 months ago when I decided to wager $75 a month for 6 months, so a total payment of $450, in order to have a chance to win $962. To win this one I had to drop 50 pounds and I did it! I weighed in successfully on August 19 at 50.50 pounds less than when I began on February 22, and so I am now $512 pounds richer and feel so much better too. How did I accomplish this? It was not easy. The company provided terrific support and the graphic showing you every day where you ..read more

I’m back at the blog station because I am still scared, but still in a healthy way. My eating this week has been better than usual, but still far from perfect. But since I have not blown it with excess, and since I have fasted 2 or 3 meals, I feel that if I have a strong finish this weekend, I will lose weight and get this overall progress back in line with the 6 month 50 lbs. healthy wage challenge. It is now Saturday morning. For breakfast, I had oatmeal and raisons, orange juice, a power breakfast sandwich from Dunkin Donuts and a small yogurt with granola. Note that I emphasized the grain ..read more

Motivation in anything including weight loss is a combination of desire for good and fear of bad. In my case, after two months of the Healthy Wage Weight Loss Challenge in which I bet to lose 50 pounds in 6 months, that fear has become an important asset. I started pretty strong and lost a total of 17 pounds with only 33 to go about two weeks ago, but then I gained one pound the following week, and now after a trip to Disney and taking my eye big off the ball, I don’t even want to go near that scale! In short, I am afraid. And that is a good thing for me. One week ago, I was sitting pretty at ..read more

Guess it’s time for a new blog on my weight loss mission. After a great week in which I found myself already 13 pounds down, and only 37 to go to reach that magical 50 pound weight loss which will make me almost $1000 richer, I admittedly got a little lazy and a little over-confident. I ate too much, did not watch the quality of my intake, and basically treaded water for a week. Milk toast. Kissing your sister. All mediocre! Yet one thing that has worked is occasionally skipping meals. I just had a nice solid breakfast, but I plan on skipping lunch and dinner now in anticipation of the big Mon ..read more

As I enter my third week of 6 months in the healthy weight loss challenge at Healthy Wage dot com, I am right on track to reach my goal of 50 pounds lost by August. When I achieve that goal, I will recieve a check for $962, but this success does not come easy. It is hard work to lose 50 lbs! So part of this blog will always be devoted to sharing with you an idea or tip to help you with your own weight loss or other goals based on what I have learned and also based on psychological reality. One such concept is the need to be open or conspicuous about your mission. The very writing of this blog ..read more

Hello from Dr. John F Murray. I am in my late 50s. I have been as fit as a world class athlete and I have been ridiculous in my life. In the past few years, I found myself going up and up in weight, mostly due to sitting as a professional (clinical and sports psychologist) and I needed to do something about it, so I found this terrific idea that I would like to now share. My nutritionist recommended a website challenge called Healthy Wage where I could use my competitive personality, and love of contests, to kill two birds with one stone … lose weight and make money! I was able to choose the d ..read more

Welcome to the new blog! The post New Weight Loss Blog Launched first appeared on Sports Psychology and Clinical Psychology ..read more

This is my post The post Testing the Post Cat first appeared on Sports Psychology and Clinical Psychology ..read more

Special to JohnFMurray.com – April 5, 2020 – By John F Murray – The world is going to eventually recover from Covid-19 and sports are going to be a huge and welcome benefit of that recovery for the teams and athletes involved.  If you are a top athlete it’s important to realize that this is no time to take a break and lose all the advantages you have been working so hard and long for.  Those who cope well with this period of time will have a tremendous competitive advantage over those who let their skills and fitness slip. We’ll most certainly hear stories about athletes who used thi ..read more

Special to JohnFMurray.com – April 3, 2020 – By John F Murray – We live in challenging times. Everyone in the world is on lockdown and much more so than during the 1917/1918 Spanish Influenza when social media and even mass media were non-issues. You either got the killer flu and died or you did not, and people in more rural areas often did not even know what was going on until it was over. While the worldwide impact from that was horrible, the psychological impact and issues created by this 2020 virus with social media, daily international press briefings and constant worry has a mental toll ..read more