Waking Up Me!

On 17 September 2016, I joined the Whole Life Challenge along with 21,000 others across the nation. The challenge focuses on 7 key habits: Nutrition (there are 3 levels: Performance, Lifestyle, Kickstart; I chose Lifestyle because it said it's the most like how we'd eat in real life and the easiest to maintain), Exercise (get at least 10 minutes a day), Mobility/Stretching (10 minutes based on a WoD provided to us), Hydration (drink 1/3 your body weight in water daily), Lifestyle (a prescribed activity area for intentional focus; we did prayer/meditation-10 minutes, acts of kindness, count your blessings, organization-10 min each day to unclutter, etc.), Sleep (you set the hours you thought you'd get each night and got points for achieving the goal or lost them for not achieving it), and then ended with a Reflection from the day (what went well, what did you struggle with, what were you celebrating or lamenting, etc.). All of these items allowed you to get points (0-5 for N...

If you've never been fat or overweight before, you may not know this fact, but weight (fat) comes on and off our bodies in weird ways. For instance, did you know you could lose weight in your feet? True fact! Some people have been known to drop 1/2 a shoe size. I gain weight all over. I suppose that is what makes it appear that I weigh less than I do or maybe that's just my wild, Viking-descended frame (just kidding...kind of). When I lose weight, as is the case with most women, the belly area is the most resistant to the change. Yet, my wrists seem all too willing to shed the weight. Wrists? Really? Anyway, each time seems to be a little different as I lose weight depending on the method I employ. Last time I reached my goal (April 2009-Feb 2011--112# lost, YEA!), I did a lot of interval training, yoga, and running. I need to get back to that because that is where my body reshaping through exercise and that burn really accentuated and enhanced what I was doing with my diet. ...

The number one question I always get when I tell people about my weight loss is, "How'd you do it?" People seem to be looking for the magic, but there's nothing new or special about how I did it. It's this simple equation: Source: fitblonde.tumblr.com via fitsugar on Pinterest But there's more...if you don't change the mental picture, you are doomed to repeat the process. That's where I am now. The losing it is not the hardest part, it's maintaining the same level of effort and investment that it took to get there in order to keep it going. When people say it's a lifestyle change, they mean it. If it's just a temporary fix, it's also a temporary weight loss. I am proof of that. I lost substantial weight in 1991 (~50 lbs), in 2001-2 (~75 lbs), and now this latest loss starting in 2009 up until I gave up in June (~112 lbs) of this year. And these are just the huge transitional periods for me. I have lost weight before and aft...

Two years ago today, I got serious about my weight loss. After coming back from a wonderful trip to the High Country of North Carolina in the Great Smokey Mountains, I knew I needed to make a change. We'd gone to this beautiful place, Linville Falls, and we had to hike down to see the falls. It was the coming back up that told me the physical weight I was carrying was too much. I was too out of shape to enjoy the things I loved--like hiking and adventure activities that require you to be physically active. That was in mid-April 2009...and what would be our last vacation as a family. When I hit my first goal at the end of January 2011, I had lost 100 lbs from the taking of this picture and 112 lbs since my heaviest. Since then, I have gained back 7 lbs. I've hit the point in my weight loss where I have to deal with some of the root issues or be doomed to end up where I started--or worse! The weight gain is a result of my desire to fill the emptiness or voids in my life; lik...