A new week

Allergy season is in full swing. Now is the time when I really see how serious I am about this weight loss journey. Between the Biggest Loser ending and having some head congestion, etc I am fighting the "I don't feel like going to the gym" thoughts.

Right now, I want to be there because I am afraid that if I don't go once then I will keep making excuses to not go the next time, etc.

I was emailing one person and I told him that wether I am in the Biggest Loser competition or working alone I have to remember that it is not everyone else who can lose the weight for me. It is me. Yes, it is encouraging and motivating to have the team support but over the next few months, if people start to slack off at the gym, I have to not let that interfere with my routine and workouts. I, with God's help, am the only one who can lose this weight. It is not anyone elses responsibility to "keep me motivated" Do I want the support and encouragement from everyone at church, work and the gym? You bet I do but if that stops it should not affect how I do my exercising.

With God's help I can continue this journey. I need to keep remembering that He has something in store for me.

I do need prayers for Sunday's though. I have gotten in the habit of going out to lunch with my church family then before I go to evening church, stopping and getting something else to eat at a fast food restaurant, then after evening church going out with my church family again and eating. NOT A GOOD THING AT ALL!!!! Please pray that I get out of this habit.

Thanks,
God Bless,
Karen

Pushing too far?

Well, I have been fighting something for a few weeks now. I thought maybe I would be able to escape it. Well, God sustained me through the party last night. I felt fine during the entire thing. Then Lisa, Tiffany and I started working out with Craig and I started losing my voice. By the time I got home from church I felt horrible. I had to call in sick to both my jobs today and I can barely talk.

I guess I pushed my body to it's limit. I will go back on Saturday and work out lightly or maybe just sit in the sauna and sweat it out. Hopefully I can talk by then...

Have a good night,
God Bless,
Karen

My Tormentors I mean Trainers

Here are my trainers. There are several of us signing up for the summer program and those on my team have already asked for Craig to be our trainer again. It will be so much fun.

God Bless,

Karen

Congratulations

I just want to say Congrats to my teammate, Sherry, who won the Biggest Loser contest last night!!! I am so proud of her. She lost 32 pounds and looks amazing!!! She doesn't need to lose anymore weight so she is joining the summer session of the Biggest Loser to tone up.

Shane came in second and lost around 65 pounds. He is getting married on Saturday.

It was an amazing contest. I can't wait until June or July when we start the next one...

God Bless,

Karen

P.S. I lost 25 total in the competition.

Commercial

We taped a commercial today. It was pretty fun. I did a testimonial before. Then they filmed us working out on some machines then they filmed us on the cardio. Finally they taped us working out in our bootcamp class. It turned out that Josh set it up pretty close to a real bootcamp class. He said 4 weeks ago that we never would have been able to do that class. It was a BLAST to hang out with all these people. We are all pretty sad that it is over tomorrow night but they told us we are starting a new one this summer.

I took a lot of pictures tonight. I have posted one group shot. (My trainer is the blond guy in the front of me.)

Maybe one day you will see the commercial?

God Bless,
Karen

TNT - Can I survive?

Have you ever heard of "Team in Training"? Well, they are an organization that prepares people to run in a marathon to raise money for Leukemia and other cancers. Since I know a few people who have survived this disease I thought this might be an interesting thing to look into.

Now, before you think I have gone bonkers, I am not going to "run" in a marathon. I emailed the organization for information on WALKING in the Columbus Marathon in November. I just received the information. It sounds like they have people do this all the time. They can train you to walk in the race.

So, I will go to the informational meeting and see what I can learn. New goal?? I think I can do this. Maybe next year I can run the race?

God Bless,
Karen

1 Corinthians 9:24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.

New Short Term Goal

55 days from today my goal is to hit the 100 pound weight loss milestone. This 100 pounds is based off of the October 4th start date. If I lose 15 pounds I will have reached the 100 pound loss from my heaviest. Why is the October 4th date the one I am comparing? I don't know. It just seems like the right date to focus on. It is a start and since I don't really have a start from that extra 9 pounds I am using October 4th.

Now why 55 days from now? Well, I have lost 21 pounds in 51 days and so I know it is a feasible goal. Also, that is my 41st birthday and I want to have reached something that I thought was unattainable for so long on that day. I will be over 1/3rd of the way to my goal weight at that time and know that I did it.

Wonder if that makes sense? I will definately need prayers and the support of my "family" of friends that God has placed in my path. Both at the gym and away. But I know that God will sustain me if this is His will for my life and right now I have no doubt that He is working. I never would have made it past the first 10 pounds without Him and He has brought me to over 75 pounds now.

Thanks to everyone for your continued encouragement and prayers. It really does mean a lot and helps more than you know. Even if you don't know Christ He is using you to encourage me in this journey.

God Bless,
Karen

The Push to 76

Last night when I left the gym I needed to lose 1 pound to reach the 75 pound weightloss mark. I WAS DETERMINED. I am fighting some kind of chest congestion and have a cough but I was not going to go another week without losing that pound. It didn't take long to work up a sweat and when I weighed in before the class I had hit the 75 pound mark!!! That was 3 pounds in the one week. So, you would think I would stop there right? No, I am now on a mission. When I was done with the class I had 1/10th of a pound to lose to reach the 76 pound mark.

Off to the sauna. 15 minutes later and having a blast with my teammates I came out and guess what? I still had 1/10th of a pound to lose. ARRRRGGGGHHHH. So I rush over to Craig and tell him that I have exactly 5 minutes to lose 1/10th of a pound. He told me to get on the treadmill at incline of 10 and as fast as I can go. I put it on 13 and speed of 3.3. That lasted about 2 minutes. I then moved it down to 11 and the speed to 2.5. After 3 minutes I jumped off and weighed myself. YES, I had lost 2/10th's of a pound!!! I quickly ran in the locker room and changed for church. Decided to weigh myself to see if a non-sweaty shirt would help and I lost another 4/10ths of a pound. If I had changed in the first place I wouldn't have had to go in the sauna and do the treadmill. Oh well, lesson learned.

Guess what else? They are filming a commercial next week during out final class!!! It will be shown on tv and the internet and someplace else. Also, they are taking testimonials and since I have lost over 75 pounds they want me to do one. Should be interesting. Opportunity for God to be glorified here huh?

Well, only 17 pounds to go to reach 300 and only 24 pounds to go for the ultimate 100 pound loss since October 4th. Only 15 pounds to go to reach the 100 pound since my heaviest. I can't wait!!!

God Bless,
Karen

High Fives and Jumping Jacks

Back at the gym tonight I was sore from working out on Saturday. Didn't know how well I would be able to do. I was talking to one of the girls and decided to try to doing the jumping jacks. I have conquerored jogging (short as it may be but I am jogging), I did mountain climbers a week or so ag0 and today I did a jumping jack!!!! My feet kept sticking on the floor but I did some jumping jacks.

After the class we went over and starting working out with Craig. At 7pm Lisa, Sherry and Tiffany heard the music for the Zumba class so they dragged me over. Zumba is kind of salsa dancing and exercise combined. It was actually pretty fun.

Then I went and got my stuff to head home and decided to weigh in to see if I lost any weight. Josh, the other trainer, was sitting there. He is the one who does all the evening classes. We started talking and when I told him that I had done a jumping jack tonight I got a high-five and then when I told him about the mountain climbers he high-fived me again. Then he proceeded to tell me that he has really noticed a big change in the things that I could do from the beginning of the Biggest Loser and today. He does this training all the time and for him to mention how great it is to see me doing so much more was VERY SPECIAL. We talked a little while longer. It really made me feel good for him to notice the changes.

One week and one day to go on the contest. Everyone is so much fun and so encouraging!! It has been such a blessing to be getting this opportunity. I thank God so much for placing me right where He has so that I can make these friends!!!

God Bless,
Karen

Another First

I don't know about you but yesterday had to be the most perfect weather day in a long time. It was 72, sunny and there was a breeze. As I got to the gym after spending 8 1/2 hours in a building with no windows for me to look out, I was joking about Josh taking us outside for our workout. Well, he obviously had the same idea. We all trucked out the doors and into the middle of the parking lot of a shopping center and got to lunge, walk backwards and many other fun and exciting exercises.

Well, I decided that I was going to try jogging. It wasn't fast and it sure wasn't pretty but I DID IT!!!! There is another girl who was struggling a little too and finally we hooked up and I was telling her that we could do it and we were working together. It was great. Then Josh had to throw in skipping. Okay, I don't know your thoughts but I have not skipped since I was like maybe 10. I am VERY UNCOORDINATED. I just kind of looked at Josh and then jogged down to the short island. One accomplishment at a time. I can now do mountain climbers and jog. One of these day's I will get jumping jacks and skipping but I can only do so much!!!

Another beautiful day so I am heading out for lunch to read my book and eat a pb&j.

Have a great day,
God Bless,
Karen

What a Saturday

Today was Grandma's 100th birthday party. It was a lot of fun. There were so many of my cousins and family members that I have not talked to in a long time. It was a time to catch up, look back and feel REALLY old!!!! (Several of my cousin's kids are married and parents now) I did pretty well eating wise until we all met at a pizza place near Grandma's that is only in her city. I had 4 pieces of pizza (they are cut in small square's about 1"x1". Then I had a sandwich with ham, turkey, tomatoes, lettuce, cheese and bacon bits on a pita bread bun. Then I came home and ate a 90 calorie Special K bar, then I just had 5 slices of roast beef that was about 120 calories.

I don't know why I started eating there. There have been so many people this weekend that have told me how proud they were of me and how great I looked and that my willpower was so amazing. I don't know if that is what scared me. There were too many compliments. I guess I am scared because here are the expectations starting. Don't get me wrong!!! I am so happy that people are proud of me. I think I am just really scared!!!! Can I continue to do this?

Then I get a phone call from someone who is very special in my life. He is like the only father I have ever known. He wanted to tell me, since I was like his 4th daughter, that he was in the ER this week with a blood clot in his leg. I will be praying for him and I think they caught it early enough. The part that meant the most was that he said I was like his 4th daughter. No man has ever told me that I was like his daughter. My real dad hasn't been around for so long that I don't remember if he ever told me that. I don't know how to explain it. It just made me feel special.

I know, I am not making any sense. I guess I just needed to talk a little bit.

Thanks for listening and praying,
In Christ,
Karen

Official Weigh-In

I took a few days off from work since my Grandma will be 100 years old Friday. I decided to take some clothes out to the clinic that helped me get started on this journey. I jumped on the scale and had officially lost 70.3 pounds since October 4, 2007.

Monday I went to the gym and sweated off 3 pounds and kept it off overnight. Last night I sweated off another 1 pound and this morning another 1 pound. Tonight is the official "Biggest Loser" weigh-in. Hopefully I will reflect all this water loss.

Have a great day,
God Bless,
Karen