Monday, June 4, 2007
Michelle's June GoalsHey everyone :) A quick recap for the new folks to our blog ... I'm a 32-year old divorced mom to two amazing wonderkids (almost 11 year old boy and 6 year old girlie girl). I work full-time, have been accepted back to school full-time in August, loves to dance hula, knit, and work in my garden :) I've battled my weight my entire life, and have twice successfully lost a significant amount of weight. I working on the third and final time to losing weight and getting healthy.
I have several goals for the month.
- First and foremost, together with challenge partner Tee, I'm going to stick to my plan for the entire month. No matter what happens this month, I'm sticking to my plan and finishing the ENTIRE MONTH!
- To make life a bit more manageable, I've decided to break the month into weekly challenges, and so far this week, my challenge to myself is to get back to basics - clean out my 'frig and kitchen of all the nasty snackies that somehow found their way into my home. You can see Part 1 of the Great 'Frig Cleanup here.
- I'm also taking a photo of myself every day and posting it on my blog. They aren't the prettiest of photos as the last two days have proven, but it's kinda like a constant reminder to myself that I am not happy with the way I look right now. I avoid mirrors and cameras at all costs. Putting this photo online every day is REALLY hard, but I think it'll help me kick some booty this month!
- I've also been issued a cardio challenge by my partner Tigerlilly - complete 6 hours of cardio beginning TODAY and ending Friday. That breaks down roughly into 72 minutes of cardio per day. It's a heck of alot more cardio than I've been doing lately, but I can do it!
Labels: June Challenge, Michelle
Posted by Michelle @ The 2007 Challenge ::
8:33 AM ::
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Monday, April 9, 2007
Just say NO to sugarcrack!Come over to my blog to see why you should just say NO to sugarcrack!! LOL
Labels: April Challenge, Michelle
Posted by Michelle @ The 2007 Challenge ::
10:08 PM ::
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Monday, April 2, 2007
Bringing on the snark!Mwahahaha ... I'm done with being a good girl, and am bringing on the snark for April. I'm kinda going to keep my overall challenge to myself this month ... in looking back to past months, I always start off with a bang and fizzle out midway through the month (if I even made it that far!)
I don't quite know how to say what I want to say. I'm kind of like a commitment freak in reverse?? I like committing to something, but never follow through. I love making plans and goals and spreadsheets to track my progress, but once it gets to actually putting the plan in place and maintaining it? Fuggedaboudit!
So this month, I do have a plan, but won't be getting into too many details. I know what I gotta do, and I just gotta do it. I don't want to be known as the blogger that says she's gonna do this or that, but never follows through. Or is it too late to be known as that blogger since I'm already there? LOL! You say tomato, I say potato. LOL
So, I'm crossing all my digits and will do what I gotta do! Be sure to check on me during the month to help keep me honest!
Labels: April Challenge, Michelle
Posted by Michelle @ The 2007 Challenge ::
9:22 AM ::
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Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Spring is here!I'm so excited that Spring is finally in its way! Come over to my blog and see photos from my walk yesterday :)
Labels: March Challenge, Michelle
Posted by Michelle @ The 2007 Challenge ::
9:10 AM ::
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Sunday, March 11, 2007
Up Your Fiber for Nutrition and Weight LossFiber can reduce your risk of heart disease and diabetes, plus it helps fill you up, so you eat less and lose weight!
If your daily diet falls short on the recommended 25-35 grams, boost your intake with high fiber cereals, whole wheat bread, brown and wild rice, whole wheat pasta, fresh fruit and vegetables. Also, take advantage of your local salad bar - build a power salad using the following fiber guide:
Food Fiber in Grams:
Romaine lettuce (2 cups): 2
Spinach leaves (2 cup): 5.5
Artichoke hearts (1/2 cup): 4.5
Onions (1/2 cup): 1
Carrots (1/2 cup): 2
Mushrooms (1/2 cup): 1.5
Corn (1/2 cup): 2
Peppers (1/2 cup): 1
Beets (1/2 cup): 2
Broccoli (1/2 cup): 1.5
Black beans (1/2 cup): 7
Navy beans (1/2 cup): 9
Chickpeas (1/2 cup): 6
Tomatoes (1/2): 1
Green peas (1/2 cup): 3.5
Chopped walnuts (2 tablespoons): 1
Slivered almonds (2 tablespoons): 1.5
Sunflower seeds (2 tablespoons): 1.5
For more information on healthy eating, check out my new book, Joy Bauer's Food Cures and my website at www.joybauernutrition.com
From Yahoo! Heatlh March 2007. For the complete article, click here.
Labels: Michelle, Tips and Tricks
Posted by Michelle @ The 2007 Challenge ::
7:29 PM ::
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Friday, March 9, 2007
Take a load off ...For every pound lost, there's a four-pound reduction in the load each step exerts on the knees. If you're overweight, shedding 11 pounds can decrease your risk of developing osteoarthritis of the knee.
From Life America's Weekend Magazine, March 9th, 2007 edition.
Labels: Michelle, Tips and Tricks
Posted by Michelle @ The 2007 Challenge ::
2:58 PM ::
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Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Your Body Can Burn Fat On Its OwnWouldn’t you just love it if your body decided to burn fat and calories on its own?
It can:
- Exercise in short, intense bursts (interval training) for effective fat burning after exercise.
- Increase the amount of resistance/strength/weight training you do, to build more lean muscle. Muscle is ‘metabolically active’ and burns more calories than other body tissue even when you’re not moving.
- And of course, for best results: Chill on the amount of food you are eating.
Technically:
- Our bodies are built to survive, so when you exercise for long periods of time (often and consistently) your body thinks it needs to hold on to fat for energy. Doing short (12-15 minute), intense exercise sessions builds strength and burns calories, but not fat, so it “feels safe” using fat stores for energy after exercise.
- Resistance training (using extra weight) helps build lean muscle mass (and strong bones), and muscle burns more calories than fat.
- If you are obsessing over things like fat grams and not eating a nutritious diet, your body will reserve energy (store fat) to survive.
Realistically:
- Varying your exercise is the most effective and efficient way to stay lean and healthy. You must do some longer exercise to build cardiovascular endurance, burn lots of calories, and yes, even burn fat during exercise - your body will not click in to “save” mode unless you exercise for long periods of time, regularly and often.
- You must do resistance training in order to build muscle and strong bones.
- Nobody wants to exercise more - and we don’t want to train our bodies to need more exercise to stay fit. So exercise efficiently – two short, very intense (relative to your level of fitness) training sessions weekly, like a 15-minute fast run/walk or fast cycling sprint intervals, and two moderately long, moderately intense sessions (30-45 minutes) of strong walking, cycling, or yoga, with one long day (60-90 minutes) of a moderately paced walk/hike. That’s a great five-day/week training schedule.
- Instead of adding more days to your workout schedule, add a weighted vest to your training. I have said this before, but this is the most efficient way that I know of to build muscle while burning calories. For more information, go to www.walkvest.com.
- Eat moderately - stop counting fat grams and calories and look at how much food is on your plate! And eat more nutritiously by eating foods that are natural and unprocessed.
Keep it real -Debbie Rocker
From Yahoo! Health, March 6, 2007. Original article here.
Labels: Michelle, Tips and Tricks
Posted by Michelle @ The 2007 Challenge ::
7:12 PM ::
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Sunday, March 4, 2007
Question for the ladies ...I don't mean to specifically exclude Galen and John, you read on and you'll see why ...
When you're at your heavy-TOM days, what workouts do you like to do?
TMI WARNING!!!
I love my Biggest Loser DVDs but they're so full of lunges, something I have no intention of doing right now! I love my Pilates and Yoga DVDs but there are poses you shouldn't do during TOM. So other than walking - it's 14 degrees out there, what else can I do? I no longer belong to a gym, so I can't do the treadmill/elliptical, etc.
What's a girl to do?
Labels: March Challenge, Michelle
Posted by Michelle @ The 2007 Challenge ::
9:20 AM ::
3 Comments
Saturday, March 3, 2007
Michelle's March ChallengeThere's something about the beginning of a new month - everything seems so much more do-able and promising and full of hope!
Here are my challenges for March:
- Blog at least 5x a week. I've missed blogging, and realized just how much it helped to keep me on track.
- Work on my posture!! I have HORRIBLE posture, both standing and sitting, and it's really a pain in the neck (pun intended). I'm going to focus on strengthening my core this month, and really keep reminding myself to sit/stand straight. My friend went to the Dancing with the Stars tour, and she said one of the amateur dances also had to work on her posture, so she would walk/sit all day with a book on her head! I may not go that extreme (all day), but will definitely try it here and there. I've also heard standing tall makes you look 10lbs thinner! ;)
- Dance every day! My friend's mom passed away last month, and both my friend and mom loved to dance - hula in particular. On her mother's Memorial card, there was a quote at the end that said "Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we should dance." I'm taking that to heart and will dance hula every day. Just for fun, and because I love how it makes me feel!
I wish everyone a successful March!! Keep up the great work!!
Labels: March Challenge, Michelle
Posted by Michelle @ The 2007 Challenge ::
4:56 PM ::
1 Comments
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Michelle's 40-Day ChallengeIt was really hard to come up with the "thing" I'm going to give up for 40-days, especially because my therapeutic diet is very restrictive by itself - what more could I give up? I really started thinking about it, and one little thought in particular helped me ...
"I'm supposed to be giving up these foods anyway."
It's that supposed to that really got me. Today's just my 5th day of the therapeutic diet, but I did give myself permission to indulge over the weekend for Chinese New Year. And Dr. Kim did say I could gradually start implementing her suggestions if I wanted to.
BUT!!!
When I really started to think about the diet, and the larger picture - how everything really is connected and inter-related, it seemed foolish to me NOT to implement all changes instead of picking and choosing which ones to follow. It's kinda like I'm being counterproductive you know? Like, why bother drinking my apple cider vinegar/honey tea to help soothe my GERD if I'm still going to eat spicy foods? Duh!!
So, my 40-Day Challenge for Lent is to give up 100% of the "no" foods in the therapeutic diet. As a recap, they are:
- all animal milk, cheese
- potatoes
- processed foods
- all caffeinated teas, coffee
- all wheat, corn products
- grain-fed beef, pork
- fried foods
- alcohol
- commerical eggs
- peanuts/peanut butter
- all dried fruits
- sweeteners
It's going to be an interesting 40-days! Good luck everyone!
Labels: February Challenge, Group Challenge, Michelle
Posted by Michelle @ The 2007 Challenge ::
8:35 AM ::
2 Comments
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Group Challenge time!!I'm flying by the seat of my pants on this one :)
As tomorrow officially begins the Lenten season, many of my coworkers are indulging themselves today with all the things they will swear off for the next 40 days. So that got me thinking ... why not a 40-day challenge? This will be a little bit harder than last month's Fridge Photo challenge, but I think it's a pretty good challenge!
I'm not Catholic, but observed my first Lent last year to mixed reviews. More about that in my personal blog later ... but my challenge to you is this ... what one bad habit are you willing to swear off for the next 40 days (with hopes of it becoming a "good" habit and continuing on after Day 40)?
Yes, I know that this group challenge will carry into March (but that just means you gotta stick around for March's monthly challenge, hehehe!). You can either leave a comment, post here, or on your own blog with your Group Challenge. Just be sure to let us know what you're giving up, so we can cheer you on!
Labels: Admin, February Challenge, Group Challenge, Michelle
Posted by Michelle @ The 2007 Challenge ::
3:05 PM ::
2 Comments
Thursday, February 15, 2007
February Challenge - Day 15 for MichelleI hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day!! You can read more about mine here. It was a riot! LOL!
I visited my naturopathic doctor today, but more about that later :) Today marks Week #3 of Dr. Weil's 8 Weeks to Optimum Health. I'm doing well with the changes so far, and am looking forward to a few new things to add to my routine.
- Find out where you can buy organic produce. Completed. I have several options available to me - the Health Hut is just 5 minutes from my house and carries organic and local produce (and everything else you'd imagine a health food store would have). At work, I can go to Outpost, Whole Foods, or Trader Joes.
- Stop using electric blankets, and remove electric clock radios from the immediate vicinity of your bed. This is because of the harmful electromagnetic pollution. Completed. Moving the alarm clock is great ... now I'll have to actually get up out of bed to hit the snooze button!
- Make a conscious effort to eat an extra serving of fruits and vegetables with at least one meal this week. Completed!
- Eat fish at least twice this week. In progress.
- Replace at least one serving of meat with a soy food of your choice. In Progress.
- With lunch or your largest meal take 400 to 800 IU of vitamin E and 200 to 300 micrograms of selenium. In progress.
- Increase your daily walk to twenty minutes. If you do other aerobic exercise, consider cutting it back to two or three days, substituting an aerobic walk on the other days. Cut back on aerobic exercise, seriously? No problem! LOL!
- Do some simple stretching to improve your flexibility. In progress via yoga and pilates DVDs.
- Add 3rd breathing exercise to daily routine. In progress
- Ask friends and bookstore clerks about inspirational books they recommend. Make a list of some you would like to read in the areas of spirituality, self-help, poetry, biography, or any other category, and select one that you will begin this week. Okay friends, I wanna hear from you on this one!!
- Buy more flowers. Completed, thanks to M and K for Valentine's Day! Oh, and Dana too! :)
Dr. Weil has a very gentle approach so far, and I'm really enjoying it. The hardest part would be remembering to take the supplements/vitamins, but I've got that conquered - I bought 3 of those weekly pill organizers in different colors. One for am/breakfast, one for noon/lunch, and one for dinner/evening. I'm keeping the noon one in my purse so I always have it at work, and it seems to be working so far. I just open the compartment for whatever day it is, and whatever time it is, and I'm good to go!
My doctor appointment today went really well. I really like Dr. Kim, everything she said made so much sense. And it's awesome to know that we're working on the whole picture, not just symptoms like my conventional doctor. It was so eye-opening to see how everything is inter-related and affects each other, just like a dominos.
I've got a lot of change in front of me. The past 2 weeks with Dr. Weil really set a good foundation for the changes Dr. Kim has set before me, but it's great that both Dr. Weil and Dr. Kim's plans are combinable (is that a word?) and I can do it concurrently.
The three major symptoms we are working on are my high blood pressure, GERD, and fatty liver. Dr. Kim has put me on a therapeutic diet, which is a low-carbohydrate, moderate-protein, and moderate-fat diet focused on real foods. I have to follow this diet for at least 2 - 3 months to re-establish a normal hormone balance, including insulin sensitivity.
Sidebar - this reminds me - I'm actually becoming insulin resistant, which is a step away from having diabetes! And I would be the 4th generation on my mother's side to have diabetes. This was a big shock and has made me even more determined to make healthy changes!
Back to the therapeutic diet ... basically the things I am to avoid are:
- all animal milk, cheese
- potatoes
- processed foods
- all caffeinated teas, coffee
- all wheat, corn products
- grain-fed beef, pork
- fried foods
- alcohol
- commerical eggs
- peanuts/peanut butter
- all dried fruits
- sweeteners
Some of the other changes I'm making are ...
- Adding 1-2tsp of organic apple cider vinegar to 6-8 ounces of water and drink it 15-30 minutes before each meal. I'm going to be doing this as a sort of tea - hot water with a bit of lemon for some sweetness.
- Drink a breakfast protein smoothie every morning. Add 1/2 tsp probiotic powder to the smoothie daily. From Day 1 of TOM to Day 14, add 2 Tbsp of fresh ground organic flax seeds, and from Day 15 to TOM, add 2 Tbsp sesame/sunflower seeds to the smoothie. Dr. Kim suggested I buy the flax/sesame/sunflower seeds in bulk, and grind it fresh daily in a coffee grinder. I did a bit of shopping after work and have everything ready for tomorrow morning!
- Drink mostly water for the first 6 weeks of my treatment. I must drink at least 64 ounces of water per day.
- End my shower with a cool water spray, starting with the extremities and finishing with my lower back. This helps with circulation, and is a simple form of hydrotherapy. Dr. Kim suggested going as hot as I can then take it as cold as I can for at least 15 - 30 seconds. Yikes!!
- Every night before bed, do dry skin brushing with a loofah sponge. This also helps stimulate circulation, this is done on very dry skin, with short, very light, frequent strokes toward the heart for 45-60 seconds.
- Oooohhh, this one will scare you ... Castor Oil Packs. But it's not what you think! I need to take a piece of flannel and put castor oil on it, then place it on my abdomen, covered by another towel, and a hot pad, and let it sit for 45 minutes. While I'm basically immobilized, I need to do breathing exercises and relaxation therapy during the 45 minutes. I'm also supposed to alternate the pack between my abdomen and liver every other day. Dr. Kim said this sounds weird, but it really works to help heal my digestive system, plus I'm relaxing at the same time. Heck, as long as I don't have to actually drink the castor oil, I'm all good!
- I must do 30 minutes on the elliptical every day.
- I have to go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day. Every hour of sleep before midnight is worth 2 hours after midnight. This will be a little hard, but I'm going to aim for bedtime by 9 (except for LOST on Wednesdays) and wake up at 5:30pm. This will be rough on the weekends!
- This is the best one!! Do something FUN every day! Laughter is essential for stress management and a healthy heart!
So, I bet after reading all this, it sounds like a lot! I agree with you! The great thing is that Dr. Kim said I'm not expected to do everything all at once, and can implement changes gradually if I want. Of course being the person I am, I'm jumping right in. Again, it's easier because of the past 2 weeks with Dr. Weil, but I just don't want to waste any more time, ya know?
Dangnabbit! It's 8:59, gotta go to bed! I hope everything has a great day! I'll be visiting blogs tomorrow morning! Woohoooo!!
Labels: February Challenge, Michelle
Posted by Michelle @ The 2007 Challenge ::
7:56 PM ::
3 Comments
Monday, February 12, 2007
February Challenge - Day 12 for MichelleEgads ... I can't believe we're almost halfway through the month!!!
I've been in a bit of a funk lately, ever since I decided not to pursue my Biggest Loser Season 4 auditions, and really wanna just kick myself in the butt for letting myself sink into a low period. I know, everyone is entitled to feeling down every now and again, but I've wasted 12 days of doing nothing. I think Morgan or Cory blogged about this last month ... how the way you can tell if someone is going to succeed is not how they are when they're accomplishing goals, but how they behave when faced with a plateau or down period or bad mood or challenge, etc .... a true winner will just stick their head down and keep on going. Me on the other hand, I stopped full in my tracks and wasted time feeling sorry for myself. What a loser, eh?
So, I'm back, whether I want to or not, I'm back and I'm going to give it 100%. I'm officially in Week 2 of Dr. Weil's 8 Weeks to Optimum Health. Now there's one bright shiny moment of goodness during my weeklong pity party - I've been following his plan and sticking to my goal of following his program.
Week 2 brought the following changes into my lifestyle:
- Test my drinking/tap water and research a water-purifying system for my home. Completed, but saving $$ to implement the system in my home. I have a private well, and the results came back very good, everything was in normal range. I was told that my water is actually better than the city water in my town.
- Continue to eat fish once a week and broccoli twice. Completed
- Increase my consumption of whole grains, and try a new food item made from soybeans. Completed - this is something that I've already been working on, but am making an effort to do more.
- Buy some Japanese or Chinese green tea, and substitute it for some or all of my coffee/soda/caffienated beverages. Again, already completed/something I already do.
- Increase my daily walk to fifteen minutes. I'm completely slacking here, will do better!
- Visit a park or other favorite spot in nature. Spend as much time as you can there, doing nothing in particular, just feeling the energy of the place. Not completed, it's been colder than heck here, not exactly good "park" weather. But I will try to figure someplace indoors that I can do this.
- Try a one-day "news fast". Do not read, watch, or listen to any news for a day. Not completed, I'm a news junkie and am reading the news on the net all day long. Will attempt to do this tomorrow!
- Continue with Breath Observation for five minutes a day and add a second breathing exercise. In progress, this is one that I really like, reminds me of my self-hypnosis, and I really like meditating/relaxing this way.
- Start taking one capsule a day of mixed carotenes (25,000 IU of beta-carotene with related compounds including alpha-cartoene, lutein, and lycopene) with breakfast. Completed/in progress.
The changes Dr. Weil's has suggested so far have been fairly easy to accomplish and integrate into my lifestyle. I've made an appointment with a naturopathic doctor for Thursday, and hope she can give me further guidance and support to my more holistic and organic lifestyle. I particuarly hope she can help me to heal my "fatty liver", and detox all the processed junk and toxins from my body.
In any case, I'm happy to be back and am putting a stop to my pity party immediately! I can't wait to catch up on all your blogs and see how you're doing :)
Labels: February Challenge, Michelle
Posted by Michelle @ The 2007 Challenge ::
6:29 PM ::
3 Comments
Monday, February 5, 2007
February Challenge - Michelle Day FiveI'm 5 days into Dr. Weil's 8 Weeks to Optimum Health, and feeling pretty good. I'm making myself read just one "week" each week so I can really focus on the steps and changes to be made during that week.
Week One's objectives were fairly easy ...
Projects: go through my refrigerator and pantry and get rid of common unhealthy foods, all oils other than olive oil, margarine or solid vegetable shortenings and products (cookies, crackers, etc), any food item containing partially hydrogenated oils, artificial sweeteners containing saccharin or aspartame, and artificial coloring. COMPLETED.
Diet: limit my total fat intake to about 20 - 25 percent of calories, and saturated-fat intake as low as possible. Start eating fresh broccoli this week - eat it at least twice this week. Eat salmon, sardines, or kippers at least once this week. COMPLETED.
Supplements: start taking Vitamin C - 100 to 200 milligrams with breakfast and another dose at bedtime. IN PROGRESS
Exercise: walk ten minutes a day five days this week (in addition to any exercise I'm already completing. IN PROGRESS
Mental/Spiritual: make a list of illnesses or injuries you have recovered from in the past two years, noting anything you did to speed the healing process. Practice Dr. Weil's breating exercises for five minutes every day. Buy some flower to keep in your house, where you can enjoy them. IN PROGRESS
All in all, it's been a very gentle beginning. I'm going to start working in my Biggest Loser DVDs tomorrow, as I'm really missing them! Crazy, isn't it??!!
Labels: February Challenge, Michelle
Posted by Michelle @ The 2007 Challenge ::
6:34 PM ::
3 Comments
Friday, February 2, 2007
February Challenge - Day 2 for MichelleToday was an okay day. I got to work about 2.5 hours late which just threw me off schedule. I "remembered" to eat around 1pm, and it just got worse as the day went on ... worse as in I didn't eat much of anything else for the rest of the day. I guess that's better than eating all day, but in some respects, I think it's just as bad.
I took the kids to a movie this evening, but again didn't eat anything, as movie concessions are just bad bad bad!
Short, boring post today, but the kids are finally in bed, and I'm itching to read more of Dr. Weil's 8 Weeks to Optimum Health. I'll be back tomorrow with a longer post and some photos!
Labels: February Challenge, Michelle
Posted by Michelle @ The 2007 Challenge ::
10:45 PM ::
2 Comments
Thursday, February 1, 2007
February Challenge - Day One for MichelleMy friend Dana loaned me "8 Weeks to Optimum Health" by Andrew Weil, M.D. today. I have had a yearning to try a more natural, holistic approach to gaining better health, and Dana has been a treasure trove of information. Thanks Dana :)
I've heard of Dr. Weil before, but have never read any of his books. I've just read through Chapter 1, and a few things have really clicked with me, and I wanted to share them with you.
"If you simply condem unwanted behavior without acknowledging what you are getting out of it, you may not be able to give it up no matter how much harm it is causing. In order to change behavior, you must be clear about what satisfaction that behavior is giving you as well as what it is costing you, then make a conscious decision to move."
I immediately thought of eating as my way of dealing with stress. I don't drink, smoke and have never done drugs. But I eat. The satisfaction I get from eating is quick pleasure and an escape from stress. Eating makes me feel relaxed, and is soothing after any emotional situation I've just gone through. Overeating is definitely costing me my health - I have high blood pressure and GERD, and take daily medication for both. I am constantly fatigued, my skin is terrible, and I get headaches quite often. And for all of these reasons, I want to change. The biggest reason? I'm afraid of dying an early death due to heart disease - which is exacerbated by being overweight.
So then I go on to read this ...
" ... fear can be a great motivator. Avoidance of disaster may be more than adequate compensation for giving up a beloved habit ... Even though I recognize the efficacy of fear in facilitating behavioral change, I feel that seeking positive reinforcement (a reward you can enjoy) is better than pursuing negative reinforcement (avoidance of something you do not want to experience), because research shows that positive reinforcement is better at maintaining new behavior. If fear is your motivator, when fear subsides, so does motivation."
Alrighty then. Like everyone, I came up with little rewards for every 10 lbs I'd lose. But I never quite got to that first 10 lb mark. Ever. In over 2 years of "wanting" to lose weight, I never ever lost 10 lbs.
And then I read this single sentence ...
"Fear can also paralyze you, preventing you from moving at all."
And I realize right then, that's what's happening. I am so freaked out at the possibility of dying because my weight is causing all of these health issues, that even though I know I should lose weight, and I come up with great plans and programs to lose weight, I never ever quite follow through to the end, and finish what I started.
And that REALLY bugs me.
So where do I go from here? I'm going to keep reading this book, and follow Dr. Weil's 8 week program. My only goal for the next 8 weeks is to fully embrace Dr. Weil's program, and see it through to the end.
Labels: February Challenge, Michelle
Posted by Michelle @ The 2007 Challenge ::
11:07 PM ::
4 Comments
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Poppi from the Biggest LoserPoppi, winner of $50,000 for having lost 117 lbs and going from a size 22 to a size 2 as an at-home contestant on The Biggest Loser Season 4, sent out a bulletin on MySpace with a link to a newstory she appeared it. It's fun to watch and she explains how she lost all that weight. See it here. Choose the link "NJs Biggest Loser".
Labels: January Challenge, Michelle, The Biggest Loser
Posted by Michelle @ The 2007 Challenge ::
10:47 PM ::
0 Comments
Photos are up here from my open casting call this morning for the Biggest Loser Season 4! Oddly enough, I stood in line for 4 hours in the below freezing temps, and it was one of the coolest things I've ever done - no pun intended!
I wanna be America's next Biggest Loser!!
