The anniversary of the moment

Today one of my friends from the blogosphere is celebrating a very happy anniversary. It's not the day she was married. It's not her child's birthday. It's not the date on which she got her first tattoo (I don't even know if she has a tattoo.)

My friend Annie is celebrating her 1 year Weight Watchers anniversary. In that one year, she has lost a whopping 80 pounds and 75-1/2 inches! See for yourself:

In honor of the occasion, I thought I'd let Annie take over and tell you how she got started.

Since Amy often blogs about The Biggest Loser and I write a weight-loss blog, I thought I'd keep that theme going here. Amy often writes about her weight-loss struggles so I know her readers can relate to her. Hopefully y'all can relate to me, too! 

I've struggled with my weight pretty much all of my adult life. I gained a little while in college, gained a little more after I got married, got A LOT more after we moved to Oklahoma (can we say emotional eater?) and then even more after having my son. My son just turned five years old.  

I tried the South Beach diet for about five minutes and knew it wasn't for me. No carbs?! Yeah, right. I have a great love for all things bread, pasta, pizza, cakes, cookies...etc....you get the picture. 

I tried Weight Watchers Online, by myself, with a little luck, but it didn't stick. Then, one day, something clicked. I had prayed about it for well over a year, and something finally just clicked. I was ready to lose weight once and for all. I don't know how to describe it, but I woke up singing that Michael Jackson song, "Man in the Mirror" and it starts out "I'm gonna make a change, for once in my life...". 

I was ready. Ready to make a change and I haven't looked back. It has been 12 months and as I'm writing this I've now lost 80 pounds. Crazy!!! Weight Watchers, going to the meetings, works. I'm not writing today to talk all about how much I've lost or how much I love WW (I really do, though!). I'm here to talk about that moment of readiness. 

So many people start "diets" and then end up giving up. Why? Because they weren't really ready. They may know that they need to lose weight, but something was holding them back before they even got started. 

Do you need to lose weight? What is holding you back? Think about it. I bet there are so many reasons and excuses why you're not starting today. A birthday celebration coming up, vacation, weddings, graduations, hesitation to being judged at a meeting, stress at work....whatever it is, there is always something. Yes, there is ALWAYS going to be something to hold you back. It is far too easy to give into those reasons and make up more excuses as to why you haven't started. 

Is there a perfect time? No. It is that simple, there is no perfect time to start a weight-loss journey. 

I started on April 29th, 2010. What was special about that day? When I woke up that day, there was absolutely nothing special about it. When I went to bed that night, it had become the day that was going to start the rest of my life. That was totally cheesy, I know, but it is so true! 

But this isn't just about the weight I've lost. More importantly, I have gained self-respect, energy, better sleep, happiness that I didn't know was missing to begin with, and a happier family because of it, and deeper faith as I fully rely on God to get my through tough times on this journey. 

Are you ready? Fight through those reasons and excuses, pray about it, do whatever it takes to finally get ready and that moment will come to you as long as you're open to it. 

Are you ready to be healthier? Are you ready to be happier? I would love to hear about your moment!

Annie

Congratulations Annie! I am really so thrilled for you (and a wee bit jealous). If you want to keep following Annie's journey, be sure to visit her at www.annieweighsblog.blogspot.com.

Planets aligning

or worlds colliding or something like that.

Planet 1: I told myself this morning as I was walking the dog, that now that the NCAA men's basketball tournament is over, I need to get re-committed to diet and exercise. No more sweet chili cha-cha chicken wings. No blue frosted cupcakes. No more Reese's peanut butter cups (which don't have anything to do with the tournament, except that my general disregard for good nutrition made it easier to eat those too).

Planet 2: Tonight while driving Robbie to soccer practice (a whole other story by itself), I had to unbutton my jeans while I was driving. Oh. Yes. I. Did. Now, they did just come straight out of the dryer and we all know that jeans shrink a lot in the dryer and need some wearing to stretch them out. But I was afraid if I didn't unbutton them, the button would pop right off, ricochet off the steering wheel, hit me in the eye and blind me right there.

Planet 3: Tonight on the Biggest Loser, Courtney was eliminated. I really thought she'd win it all. I don't get star struck very often. But ever since this season began, I have wanted to meet Courtney. She lost 100 pounds on her own before she ever made it on to the show. Now she's lost 215 pounds total!

What I want to know is how has she maintained motivation? I've lost and gained again the same 30-40 pounds at least three times in the last 10 years. Why can't I lose it all, which would be about 70 pounds, and not find it again?

Finding Courtney wouldn't be hard. Her family owns a Dairy Queen in Valparaiso, Indiana. But it seems kind of stalkerish to go up there and order a Dilly Bar with a side of heart-to-heart chat with Courtney. Actually, I'd like to meet her mom, too. She lost about as much as I need to and she's a mom with kids. So yeah, either one of them. Or both of them. We could chat over salads and Diet Coke.

So maybe the end of a celebration plus the frustration of not being able to breathe in a pair of jeans plus inspiration from an unlikely source are just enough planetary alignment to get me back on track.

The Biggest Loser: Funny, crazy, inspiring

Sorry folks, I missed the first 30 minutes of tonight's episode of The Biggest Loser. You all will have to fill me in. I asked on Facebook and was told "Tracy is crazy!," which I'd already gotten a hint of. I came in to the show as Abby was talking to Dr. H. about the stress fracture in her knee.

Without giving a play-by-play of the entire two hour show (or at least the 90 minutes I saw), I'd summarize tonight's episode as funny, crazy and inspiring:

Funny
There were several funny things contestants said during tonight's episode, including:

Rebecca: "Damn you, sprinkles!," yelling at a cupcake that was tempting her.

Danny: "Oh my! I guess these (cupcakes) have real sugar in them!," trying to get the other contestants (including his partner Liz) to believe that he was eating the cupcakes to win the temptation.

Sean: "I wanted to take a cupcake and rub it all over my body!"

Rebecca: "I'm used to eating pizza, not running up hills," as she was carrying 10 pounds of weight up the incline during the fitness challenge.

Dina (to Jillian during the last chance workout): "Do me a favor. Don't talk to me," letting Jillian know she didn't need someone yapping in her face as she tried to finish her run on the treadmill.

Crazy
Whether it was creative editing or it was really that way, Tracy came across as being (just like someone said on Facebook) crazy. First, she gave up the chance for both she and Coach Mo to work with the trainers this week in exchange for a 2-pound advantage at the weigh in. And did anyone notice those crazy eyes she was making all night?

Then she ate four cupcakes during the temptation challenge so she could be the one to control whose weight would count at the weigh in.

Now, for the record, I don't think that eating 4 cupcakes was that big of a deal. They were told each cupcake was 100 calories. There are 3,500 calories in a pound. 35 cupcakes would only be one pound, which would take no time to work off in the Biggest Loser gym. So Tracy's 4 cupcakes were probably be gone in one treadmill run.

Speaking of crazy, what the heck, Jillian?! She totally wigged out when she heard Tracy ate the cupcakes. It was 400 calories, that's it. It wasn't 4,000. Jillian calling Tracy "crazy" and "bananas" is totally the pot calling the kettle black.

Inspiring
There were two really inspiring segments of the show tonight. The first was at the end of the fitness challenge. Each team had to carry 500 pounds to the top of a tall ramp. The first to finish won immunity. First team to raise the flag all the way wins.

After the Green team had won (Go Indiana's own Allen!), the other teams all finished and several players were interviewed who said that the Biggest Loser is teaching them to finish what they started (Except in the case of desserts obviously. Don't finish those. Probably don't start them in the first place.) When Coach Mo was the last to finish, all the contestants grabbed his weights and helped him finish his task. Just like last week, teamwork and unity. I'm liking this season.

The other inspiring thing that happened tonight was when both the Red (Antoine and Sean) and the Orange (Daniel and Shay) teams were below the yellow line. Antoine and Sean were all class. They basically sacrificed themselves so Shay could stay on the ranch longer.

Their sacrifice paid off. In the transformation moments at the end of the show, Sean had lost 124 pounds. Wish he'd lose the bad haircut. His wife is expecting a baby girl very soon and they plan to name the new baby Jillian!

For his part, Antoine has lost 105 pounds and I must say that he is looking mighty buff in the gym. He is dating Alexandra who was eliminated in the first week. I'm happy that he's happy, although I didn't care for Alexandra.

When both the Red and Orange teams fell below the yellow line, there was plenty of animosity toward Tracy. We'll have to see how it plays out next week.