Inspiration...

One week to go before the halfway mark in our Biggest Loser competition... if you had told me in November that I would be down 80 pounds before the end of January, I would not have believed it. There are people, men included, that get all the way to the finale on the television show without losing that much weight. If I hit my goal by the time our finale rolls around, I will have surpassed the very first winner on The Biggest Loser, who lost 122 pounds, or 37% of his body weight. By Monday's weigh-in, I will already be at 25%, with three months left to go. Somehow I don't think my win will net me a quarter of a million dollars, but I am gaining something much more valuable than that - I'm getting my life back!

 

I think today was Infirmary Day at our workout - Nandy is still battling back from her injury from 3 weeks ago (although doing much better, thankfully); Lisa has something going on with her; Tammy is working with a bum knee; Charles is having back problems... I think Johnnie had four different workouts going for seven people this morning! I've worked hard this week - double workouts on Tuesday and Thursday. I'm going in on those mornings by myself, and then in the evenings with Nandy, who had to make a schedule change. I miss the camaraderie in the mornings - and when I work to keep up with Nandy, I WORK! If she comes back full-strength from this injury, and STILL has the lead, I think she will officially be the most determined person I have ever met. I can think of ten reasons why she should have never been able to get in the lead; however, not only is she beating all the women, she is beating almost all the men, as well. Definitely a source of inspiration.

 

Through circumstances that I did not play a part in, I got to meet up today with another person who inspires me. Kristy, the season one winner who became the season two red team trainer, asked me to help her with a video she is submitting in a contest. Kristy and I go back a ways - she was a teenager in my youth group back in '93 - '95. I don't know if she particularly liked me much back in the day, but her example is what inspired me to submit an entry for Augusta's Biggest Loser. I was as nervous as I could be - I felt like a star, or a hero, was coming over. I had no reason to be nervous, though - she totally put me at ease, and seemed genuinely impressed by my progress in the competition. She's the only person I know personally who has been through this entire process, and it has been SO helpful to bounce stuff off of her, as well as Skip, her co-winner who she connected me with via facebook. When I write to the world on facebook, "I'm doing well", she's the person I can write and say, "I'm not really doing so well - need some help here." She has been as generous with her time as she can possibly be, and I will be forever grateful to her for her help throughout this competition. Helping her with her video is only a tiny dent in repaying her- thanks, Kristy, for all your help!

 

Gotta give a pat on the back to my buddy Charles, as well. For those of you who don't know, Charles is my only male teammate, and we spend time grousing together when the girls are all talking about... well, whatever it is they talk about. We're all pretty open on our team, but there's just some places you don't care to go, if you know what I mean. Charles is about to wrap up an absolutely horrible schedule at his workplace, and we were really dreading what kind of mood he would be in. (For those of you who don't know, the Augusta Futurity is going on right now - about 2 weeks of non-stop rodeo action - bull-riding, cutting - the whole nine yards. Charles is responsible for making sure all those people, as well as the attendees, get fed every day.) I gotta say, Charles, you have been amazing this week in spite of what all is going on in your life right now. You will get a break soon, and when you are out from under all that stress and the extreme hours, you're gonna start dropping weight like crazy. You may be trailing me a little in this competition right now, but in drive, desire, and will-power, you've got me beat. Well done, sir- you are another source of inspiration for me, like it or not.

 

I started a new food plan today - the "Millennium Meltdown", which is not nearly as chocolatey as it sounds. Basically, I'm meat, veggies, and grapefruit for the next couple of weeks. No carbs. No cheese. No snacking. But on the plus side - I got to eat turkey bacon with my eggs this morning, which honestly was just about the most amazing thing I've put in my mouth in three months! Burned it a little bit, but I didn't care. Bacon and eggs for breakfast - whoo-hoo!!!!