Erica
This photo is painful for me to even show but it’s a story
that needs to be told. This is a photo
of our biggest loser team on our second workout day (I’m the big out of
shape one in the middle)… This photo was
taken at my heaviest weight ever and painful for me to even look at. I was miserable, out of shape, and sad. I wanted to make a change but was not sure if
I could succeed. I have proved myself
wrong and as of today 7/9/2014 I have lost 48 pounds!!! Yeah, you read that
right! I am 2 pounds away from 50!!! I
have made these drastic changes in just 4 ½ months. If I can do this then honestly anyone can
achieve their goals. This, of course, is
not my goal weight but it is a huge step toward that end result. Healthy eating, portion control, and working
my butt (literally) off…
Here’s to
continuing this journey.
Brianne
When I look back at this picture, I have
bittersweet feelings. Mostly happy feelings, but some of my
insecurities still exist. This picture was on day 2 of our 12 week
competition. This is the infamous pink team. The pink team
was where it was at! Everyone that wasn’t on the pink team was secretly
wishing that they were. We had so much fun putting ourselves through
hell! We laughed and cried together. Looking back on this photo, I
realize that each and every one of these ladies played a key role in the
success of our team. The most important thing for me was laughing.
We laughed a lot. We had nick names for certain exercises.
Maybe one day we will do a tutorial of the “Erica”. We kept
the mood light. We worked hard, but we had a lot of fun in the
process. We were told by another trainer at our gym that we were a breath
of fresh air.
When I reference my insecurities, I can look at each of my friends and think
they look beautiful, but when I look at myself I can see the loose skin on my
stomach from having 4 children that feels like it will never go away, my face
looks old, and my legs look like two large tree stumps. It’s funny
because anyone else would say that I was being too hard on myself, but these
are real thoughts and feelings that I have. Fortunately for
me, the pink team listened to each other and validated these feelings.
Having a group that was supportive to each other to build up our own
self-images instead of trying to one up each other was
crucial. We often would ask each other how we got ourselves
in to this situation, but we would always push forward. I felt that
each one of us genuinely wanted to see the other team members succeed.
And success we had! 126 pounds lost during our 12
weeks. And it hasn’t stopped there.
Here’s
to another 126 lbs!
Cali
So,
remember when I used to wear all black so I looked skinnier? It worked out well
for me, don't you think? ;) Okay, I still wear a lot of black (right this
second, actually), but it's not so much to hide my body anymore. The black
section of my closet is about 3x the size of all my colored clothing put
together. I have a black addiction. (And, yes, I am OCD enough that my closet
is organized by color).
Like
Erica and Brianne, I have mixed feelings about this picture. I love every
single girl in this picture with all of my heart and I want the very best for
each one. Every journey has a beginning and I am so glad that we documented
ours with pictures. Even though it's hard for me to advertise to the world just how bad I looked, I can
see my body changing and I feel so much better and stronger than I did just 4.5
short months ago when this photo was taken. I can also see huge changes in each
of my teammates and I am so happy for them.
As
of today, I have officially lost 4o pounds from when we started the Biggest
Loser competition and 45 pounds since Sept '13 (I like to focus on the biggest
number I can!). I still have a ways to go to reach my final goal, but I
really feel that I'm through the hardest part - at least I hope so!
I
cannot say enough good things about my team and trainer. They have made all the
difference with this attempt at weight-loss and developing a healthy lifestyle.
The support and accountability have been game changers. After most training sessions, we
all text back and forth to talk about the torture we just experienced and to
encourage each other. We also laugh about the fact that this is our life now. When did we become these people?! I am so proud of
all of their hard work and dedication.
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