Category Archives: Weight Loss

Over A Month On Vyvanse (or A Meeting With My Therapist)

Posted on April 23, 2015 | 3 comments

I had an appointment with my therapist this week to discuss how I’ve been doing on Vyvanse. Honestly, I went into the appointment thinking that I would probably be stopping the medication.

While almost all the side effects I experienced the first few days have ended (racing heart rate, shaking, intestinal issues), I started to experience some new side effects in the past few weeks. Mainly, losing more hair that usual.

Now, I have no clue if this is due to the medication. I was diagnosed with alopecia when I was 14. Then, I had two pretty large bald spots behind my ears. I did injections and my hair grew back. But every so often I get new bald spots (and usually they grow back on their own). But now, I’m losing my hair on my head all over and there aren’t any visible bald spots. And when I looked up side effects of Vyvanse, hair loss is one. There’s no real way to prove what causes my hair loss (even with it being caused by the alopecia), but if there is something that I am doing in my life that is causing it, I don’t want to keep doing that.

So when I went into the appointment I figured it was the end of my journey with Vyvanse. It hasn’t really been helping with my binge eating episodes. I do experience reduced hunger at times, but it’s not what I was expecting or hoping. I had felt such a great lack of hunger and disinterest in food for the first few days, and now that that feeling is gone I’m a little sad. I wished that that would be how I feel every day.

I went over all of my side effects and concerns with the therapist. We both agreed that increasing the dosage would not be a smart idea. If it did help with the hunger/binge issues it might also make any side effects worse. And it’s really an unknown right now if the Vyvanse is causing the hair loss or if it is the alopecia/stress.

So right now, the plan is to continue the dosage that I’m on right now. As far as not feeling like the medication is effective, my therapist explained that everyone feels that instant “cure” when they start the medication. The receptors in your brain aren’t expecting what the medication does, so it goes into overdrive. But once your brain gets used to it, it feels like it isn’t as effective. But that’s where things can get scary.

Some people will tell their doctors how great they felt right away and then the feeling went away. So some doctors will increase the dosage. The patient will have those few days of awesomeness again and then that will go away. So the dosage is increased again. There is a limit to how much of this medication you can take each day, and you don’t want to get to the maximum dosage if you don’t have to. So the plan is for me to stay on my current dosage for 3 more months and then we will reevaluate. If my doctor feels then that I should have a higher dosage, we will increase it. But for now, he wants to see what happens over the next 90 days. And he and I will meet again after those 90 days to discuss things again.

My therapist also wants me to track how often I’m doing the things that make me happy every day. He feels (and I agree) that the best way to stay on top of my eating disorder is to not try to get rid of the binge episodes but to make sure that I’m doing things that make me happy every day. Eventually, my time will be focused on those happy things and not on bingeing.

I’m going to work on making a chart of my happy things (he wants me to come up with 10) this week and start tracking them either on Sunday or Monday (I’m going to make my chart a calendar so I can look back at each day easily). I’m hoping that if I make an effort every day to include these happy things that I will almost “forget” to binge.

I’m not sure if that will work, but it’s worth a try. And hopefully the next 3 months on Vyvanse will go smoothly and anything that I think might be a side effect will go away soon. But as always, I’m trying to stay positive and hope for the best.

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Default ThumbnailA Quick Vyvanse Update (or I Guess Forgetting Helps Time Pass) Default Thumbnail1 Week On Vyvanse (or Hoping To Answer Some Questions) Default ThumbnailAnother Therapist Check In (or Showing Off My Happiness Checklist) Default ThumbnailFollowing My Doctor’s Instructions (or Days Off From Vyvanse) Default ThumbnailAn Easy Therapist Check-In (or Virtual Appointments Make Things Easier) Default ThumbnailA Year On Vyvanse (or Help Is Expensive)

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Giving Fitbit Another Chance (or Doing Laps Around My Living Room)

Posted on April 15, 2015 | Comments Off on Giving Fitbit Another Chance (or Doing Laps Around My Living Room)

I’ve previously written about Fitbit on here. I had a pretty bad experience with them and I returned the Fitbit I bought then almost right away.

I was ok not having a Fitbit for a while. I had used a pedometer in the past and it wasn’t something that really excited me.

But lately, more and more of my friends have been talking about competing against each other on Fitbit. I learned that I could use the Fitbit app and have  my steps counted by my phone. So since that was free, I did it.

But I realized that all the steps I take at Orangetheory didn’t count since I wasn’t holding my phone while I worked out. So I started looking into getting a Fitbit device again.

I looked at the ones you wear on your wrist, but it didn’t seem right for me. First, I already wear a watch so I didn’t want something else on my wrist. And secondly, it probably wouldn’t count my steps on the treadmill at Orangetheory because I have to hold onto the treadmill (balance issues).

So I decided on the Fitbit One. It’s pretty small and I can either wear it on my pants on in the middle of my bra (I’ve been going with the middle of the bra choice since it’s totally out-of-the-way).

Fitbit One Size

During my workouts at Orangetheory, I’ve been putting it on my pants since my sports bra goes up much higher than a normal bra.

It’s nice to count all my steps during the day. And the app on my iPhone is super easy to use and read.

Fitbit Tracking

But what I’ve been loving the most about Fitbit this time (besides the fact that it’s working and syncing perfectly) is the social and competitive aspect of it.

You can be friends with different people on there and see how you rank against each other over the past 7 days. Since I just started using the Fitbit, I’m pretty low in the rankings but I’m moving up.

And through the app they also have a bunch of different challenges that you can do with your friends. Right now, I’m doing a weekday challenge with 9 other people (including my agent). But over the weekend, we did a weekend challenge.

Fitbit Competition

I didn’t win that one (and I don’t think I’ll win the weekday one either), but I had a lot of fun doing it. And it’s really motivating me to get as many steps during the day that I can. I’ve been doing laps around my house between customers at work or while I’m watching tv shows that don’t need that much attention. And since I live in such a tiny house, my laps are only like 5 steps each way.

But every step adds up and since Saturday (when I got the Fitbit), I’ve hit my target of 10,000 steps each day! And all of those steps equal more calories burned, so it will be helping me to reach more goals. This is all wins for me.

Are any of you on Fitbit? I’d love to have more friends to compete against!

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Default ThumbnailExcellent Customer Service (or A New Fitbit) Default ThumbnailNo More Slacking (or Paying Attention To My Fitbit) Default ThumbnailLosing Weight The Techie Way (or My FitBit Fail) Default ThumbnailWorkout Clothes Addict (or Didn’t I Used To Complain About Workout Clothes?) Default ThumbnailFinding A Community (or Online Motivation) Default ThumbnailTough Workout Week (or I Made It Through My 4 Workouts)

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Fitting In My Workouts No Matter What (or Last Workouts Before The 5K)

Posted on April 13, 2015 | 3 comments

It was not easy to get my 3 workouts in this week, but I did it.

I knew that it was going to be an odd week of workouts even before having to go down to San Diego. I had the Hollywood Half 5K on Saturday and knew that I would not be working out on Friday. And there was a chance that I was going to be at Disneyland on Monday with a family friend.

So the original plan was to work out Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday afternoons.

Then my grandpa passed away and my schedule got crazy.

I cancelled my Disneyland plans right away. Then I started to wonder how I could get 3 workouts in during the week.

It’s probably stupid that I was worried about my workouts when there was a death in the family, but I guess that is how I was coping.

I started to think about what time I would have and how late I would be getting back from San Diego on Tuesday to see if I could do a Tuesday evening workout. But after debating it all for a few minutes, I figured out a schedule.

I would do my Wednesday and Thursday workouts as planned and add an early Sunday workout before driving to be with my family.

Sunday morning was not a great workout for me. Again, I had issues with getting my heart rate high enough (I guess the side effect of a speedy heart rate with my new medication went away). I was also pretty stressed out about going to San Diego. It didn’t feel real that my grandpa died, so I was worried that as soon as I got to San Diego it would all hit me (it did, but not in the way I was expecting it to). I tried my best to get through the workout, but I know that I wasn’t doing my best.

Wednesday was a pretty good one for me. I was worried that I would feel a bit out of shape from the lack of exercise and the good food from the past few days, but it didn’t affect me nearly as much as I thought. The biggest challenge I had in my workout on Wednesday was the 800 meter row.

We had to do this 2 different times in the workout. We had to write down our first time and then try to beat it the second time. And for every second longer our second time took, we had to do a burpee. I pushed myself like crazy on that rower. My goal was to be under 4 minutes, and I did it!

800 Meter Row

My name is toward the bottom of the board. And you can see that my second time was exactly 1 second slower than the first. So I owed 1 burpee. But considering that my goal was to be under 4 minutes, both my rows were pretty amazing!

After that exhausting workout, I was feeling a bit sore for my Thursday workout. But since it was my final workout before the 5K, I wanted to push myself as much as I could on the treadmill. I wanted to see if I could get a new PR on the 5K, and treadmill training is what will get me there.

The treadmill workout was all hills. I usually hate the hills, but I was grateful for them on Thursday. A majority of the 5K is on a flat road (there are a few hills), so since I’m used to training at an incline the 5K should almost feel like a downhill race.

Besides going hard on the treadmill, I’m still working on upping my weights when I’m doing the floor work. I’m finally starting to see (and feel) the results of the heavier weights. Even though the scale isn’t going down that much, I feel much lighter. And I have some pretty decent sized muscles now (they are just covered up by fat). Hopefully when the scale starts dropping again, the visually results will be seen more because I have more muscle to show off.

I’m so glad I got my 3 workouts in even though I was dealing with so much. I know I say this again and again, but it just proves to me how much of a priority working out is for me now. I never felt like that prior to Orangetheory and it makes me so proud that I’m dedicated to my workouts now.

In tomorrow’s post, I’ll be recapping the Hollywood Half 5K!

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Splurging In San Diego (or Back To My Boring Food)

Posted on April 10, 2015 | 1 comment

While I was in San Diego, I didn’t really worry about what I was eating.

The hotel that we stayed at had a full breakfast. So I ate eggs and a banana both mornings I was there (I also had a muffin one morning). Most of the other options at breakfast were carbs, and I’ve learned from experience that I do best when I have some protein at breakfast.

We didn’t really do lunch any day. I got something to eat, but it was more of a “grab what you want” sort of situation. I pretty much had leftovers from dinner or some of the banana bread that I brought down.

And for dinner, the first two nights my mom cooked. They were super delicious meals and she also made dessert. My family’s favorite dessert is her triple layer brownies (the bottom layer is the gluten-free brownie that I make). I had a brownie each night.

Triple Layer Brownies

We also went out to dinner at the restaurant in the building that my grandma lives in for the last night. That dinner is usually 3 courses, but I had to leave before dessert.

With all that eating, there was pretty much no exercise. Most of the day each day was spent in my grandma’s apartment. I really didn’t get out for a walk or anything each day. I didn’t think about the lack of exercise since I was so focused on family stuff.

That’s not the routine that I’m used to. But fortunately, I didn’t gain too much weight over the few days I was in San Diego. And as soon as I got home, I got back to my regular food.

I’m really eating pretty boring these days. But I’m ok with that. I like having a routine and a plan of what I will be eating throughout the day. I’m still working on what I want as a regular breakfast (right now it’s a multi-grain waffle with peanut butter and a banana), but I’ve got my lunch down.

At least on work days, I’m eating almost the same thing every day for lunch.

Turkey Burger Lunch

A turkey burger on top of some veggies (usually peas, corn, or broccoli). It’s a good meal to eat and I’m fortunate enough to work from home so I can make a nice lunch each day.

My dinner tends to be a rice bowl. Whether I add beans and veggies to the rice or a veggie burger, it’s usually brown rice based. I do want to work on adding more fruits and veggies to my meals, but I don’t want to force it either.

I’m sure that eventually I will get sick of this for lunch and dinner, but for now it’s working for me. And by making a majority of my days “good days”, those splurges I have occasionally don’t hurt my weight loss efforts too much.

But I am still thinking about those triple layer brownies. I wish I had one to eat today.

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A Culver City Dinner (or Meeting Some Tone It Up Ladies)

Posted on April 8, 2015 | 1 comment

I’ve been a part of the Tone It Up community for a little while. I’ve met a couple of TIU ladies through Orangetheory, but I haven’t been able to attend any of the meetups that have been going on lately. A lot of the meetups have happened either while I’m working or when I have other things that I have to go to.

So when someone mentioned online that they were new to the Culver City area and would love to do a dinner hangout, I was quick to respond that I’d love to join in!

The dinner was going to be held at The Wallace, which is only a few blocks away from my house. I was fine walking there, but I don’t walk home alone at night. So I was thinking that I would have to drive, but then one of the ladies going to dinner offered to drive me home!

Then, that morning I found out about my grandpa passing away. My first response was to want to cancel my dinner plans. But then I thought about when my mom was diagnosed with cancer. That night, I had an event to go to as well and it really did help me get through the day. So I figured I would do the same this time.

It was nice to be able to walk to dinner. It gave me time to clear my head. And it was first real walking around that I was able to get done that day (I was pretty much tied to my computer all day).

There were quite a few of us at dinner, but it was perfect! I knew a few of the ladies from before, but I got to meet a bunch of new super amazing women!

TIU CC Girls

The idea at The Wallace is that it is all small plates to share. They say maybe 2-3 plates per person. And since there were so many of us, we kind of split up into a few different groups around the table. There were 4 of us in my group who were going to share, so we checked out the menu and tried to figure out what to get for us.

The Wallace Culver City

We ended up with several plates. We got beets (which I didn’t eat because I don’t like beets), cauliflower, short rib ravioli,  and a shrimp pancake. And then the one thing that we got that I felt was mean to be was bone marrow.

Bone Marrow

I had never had bone marrow before. I never wanted to order it because if I didn’t like it, I didn’t want to be stuck with a meal I didn’t like. But my grandpa loved bone marrow. When we would go out to eat, he would always ask the waiters if there were any extra bones so he could have bone marrow. It was one of his things (like drinking martinis).

So it seemed fitting to honor my grandpa’s life by getting something that he loved so much for dinner. This particular restaurant does a very spicy topping on their bone marrow, so I didn’t love that. But it was still very delicious and made me feel like going out to dinner was the right thing to do.

Besides the yummy food, there was great conversation. There were a couple of other ladies who work in the entertainment industry, but a majority didn’t. That’s a rarity for me and I liked it. We all were chatting about various workouts that we do around town and just got to know each other.

I know that I’m really going to try to do more hangouts with the TIU group. They are all so incredible and nice and I really want to get to know those ladies more. I know that I have to miss out on a couple of different events coming up due to my schedule, but I’m really going to try to make it a priority to try to fit in one or two meetups each month with them.

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Lots Of Morning Workouts (or Maybe I Can Be A Morning Person)

Posted on April 6, 2015 | Comments Off on Lots Of Morning Workouts (or Maybe I Can Be A Morning Person)

This past week, I had 3 workouts. And 2 of those 3 were in the morning.

I haven’t been a huge fan of morning workouts. Sometimes I have trouble pushing myself or getting my heart rate up high enough.

But I’m definitely getting better at them.

I’m pretty much doing my Monday workouts at 9:30am instead of 4pm now. Like I’ve said before, there’s no reason for me to have an afternoon workout on a day that I don’t have to work. So that 9:30am class is starting to feel more normal to me.

This past Monday my focus was on continuing my speed and heavier weight training. I’m getting more comfortable with both and that’s making me happy. I’m seeing a transformation in how I feel during and after my workouts. And since I’m not seeing a lot of transformation on how I’m looking physically, having some transformation makes me feel like all my hard work isn’t for nothing. And I can’t help but smile at that.

Tough Workout

On Wednesday, since I had the podcast dinner in the evening, I had to do a before work workout. Before work workouts are always early for me (7:30am). It also requires me to wake up an hour earlier than I’m used to. I think that those are going to continue to be tough for me since I’m working out when I’m used to waking up. And I have no desire to wake up an hour earlier every day (I wake up the same time every day because that’s supposed to be better for you).

That workout wasn’t that great for me, but I was there and I did it. I was having a lot of trouble on the treadmill because it was almost all hills, but I took breaks when I had to and got through it.

Friday’s workout was a bit weird for me. I found out bad news on Thursday (more about that tomorrow) and I was just feeling off. It was a run/row day and I’m very grateful for that. It made me have to focus on the workout (since the coach wasn’t telling us during cardio when to transition) and not think about things outside of the workout.

But during the strength section, I had to do down in how heavy the weights were. I think part of that was because I was exhausted. I didn’t get a ton of sleep the night before and I know that being tired affects my workouts a lot.

This week, I’ll do another 3 Orangetheory workouts and then I have my 5K on Saturday. I’m starting to get really nervous about the 5K, but I guess I’ll see how it goes this weekend. And as long as I finish (and don’t finish in last place), I’ll be happy.

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The Good Outweighing The Bad? (or When Will I Get Back On Track?)

Posted on April 2, 2015 | Comments Off on The Good Outweighing The Bad? (or When Will I Get Back On Track?)

I’ve been having a lot of bad foods days lately.

I honestly don’t know why.

I’m stocking my fridge and pantry with a lot of the same things that I was eating during the cleanse and weight loss challenge. But I’ll go out and get “bad” foods if they aren’t in my house. And I always immediately regret the fact that I ate the “bad” foods as soon as it’s done.

This isn’t a boredom thing. It’s just the nature of my eating disorder. I almost go into a trance state when it happens. I sometimes don’t realize that I ate something until I see the empty wrapper or container in front of me. It scares me that I can lose track of time and myself and not realize it.

I have no idea why I did so well while on the cleanse and I’m having a tough time now. It really makes no sense to me. But this is a pattern that I’ve had in the past. When I’m on a food plan that has a specific end goal (like my first hip surgery or the weight loss challenge), I can do ok. But when the goal is a general one, whatever keeps me on the right path goes away.

The one big difference between now and other times when I’ve lost a decent amount of weight is that I’m still continuing with my workouts (and pushing myself more and more). Having my workout consistency is helping me with not gaining all the weight back right away. In the past, the weight came back as fast (if not faster) than I lost it.

I have gained back some. It’s less than half of what I lost, so that’s not too horrible. And my weight has held steady for the past week and a half at the amount I’ve gained back. I’m working really hard at trying to get back down to where I was (and get lower). My clothes aren’t too tight, so I know that the weight I’ve gained could be water weight. Normally when it’s “real” weight, my clothes feel tight immediately.

I’m still trying to focus on the fact that I’m still weighing less now than I was at the beginning of the year. And I’m making steps to be at a weight that I need to get to in order to consider getting my hip surgery.

I’m not sure if I’ll have another bad food moment/day in the near future. I’m really going to try to stay focused on my time and not to let time slip away. I’m continuing to plan out all my meals and hopefully with having it written out early in the day will give me something to focus (while I don’t like the idea of counting down the minutes to my next meal, it might help keep me on track).

This is all just the nature of the beast of this eating disorder. I’m aware that this post might sound odd and rambling, but that’s how it is in my head. I’m trying to focus and put all these things in order but it doesn’t seem to have an order to go to.

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1 Week On Vyvanse (or Hoping To Answer Some Questions)

Posted on March 20, 2015 | 4 comments

I’ve been on Vyvanse for a week now. Since I’ve been so open about both my eating disorder and being put on this medication, I’ve gotten a lot of questions about it.

First of all, Vyvanse is an ADHD drug that the FDA approved for people with moderate to severe binge eating disorders. I’ve heard for years how ADD and ADHD medications have helped with my type of eating disorder, but the rule with my health insurance is that my prescription coverage doesn’t cover prescriptions that are being used for something that the FDA hasn’t approved it for yet. So while I wanted to try some other options, this is the only one that my insurance will cover.

To get prescribed this medication, first you have to be diagnosed with a binge eating disorder. I was first formally diagnosed with it even before it was a recognized eating disorder by my hospital. Since there really weren’t any treatment options at my hospital (they were going to consider me a non-purging bulimic), I went elsewhere for therapy. This included the RFO program which did have group therapy. I had to be re-diagnosed with a binge eating disorder to get the prescription.

This is not a weight loss drug. I know that those are out there, but I wasn’t looking for that. This medication helps to reduce the number of binge eating episodes that I have. To me, that is way more powerful than a weight loss medication.

And yes, I have felt some side effects. I had a racing heart pretty much the entire first few days. But now, that is gone. I also had issues with shaking hands, but that is also pretty much gone (that sometimes comes back when I work out). Beyond the first two days, almost all the side effects have stopped. The only side effect that I’ve felt every day is a little dizziness for brief amounts of time (maybe less than a minute) a few times a day. It feels very similar to vertigo (which I have so maybe that is what the dizziness issue is).

I’ve had a lot of people ask me how it’s going so far. Well, I’ve been on the medication for a week. And I’m taking less than half of what the dosage usually was for patients with binge eating disorders. I’m even taking less than the recommended starting dosage. I’m not sure why my doctor did it this way, but I will be meeting with him in just about a month to reevaluate (and I’m sure to up my dosage if I’d like to continue taking it). It’s hard to tell how much it’s working right now. I have had moments where I have no appetite, and I know that is something that this is supposed to do. But it has not reduced my binge eating episodes down as much as many of the trials stated it did for those patients. Again, this might be due to the low dosage that I’m on.

My plan going forward is to continue taking the medication and evaluating if a higher dosage would give me better results when I meet with my doctor next month. That’s it. I can’t really do much more than that. I’ve been warned that it can take several months to figure out if a medication is right for me and what dosage I need to be on. I just have to be patient and see.

If you have any questions about Vyvanse (I’m not paid to talk about it, just sharing my experiences with you all), let me know. I’m happy to help answer what I can. It makes me so happy that by me allowing myself to be open and share this with the world that others feel comfortable enough confiding in me. If I get nothing else out of this medication, I will know that I might have helped at least one person be less ashamed about their eating disorder.

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I Am Stronger (or How A Tweet Was An Ah-Ha Moment)

Posted on March 13, 2015 | 3 comments

A twitter friend of mine mentioned that they were going to be overhauling their diet and starting to try to get back on track this week. I tweeted my support and told her that if she needed a sounding board or anything, I am here for her. Then she mentioned that she has had issues with food in the past, and then I tweeted something that sounded silly to me at first.

To quote myself: “Eating disorders are a bitch. I just want to prove that I am stronger than it.”

I said it as almost a joke at first. But when I re-read what I wrote, I realized how much that it summed up my feelings about my eating disorder.

This will be a forever battle for me. I know, understand, and accept that. But I’d like to sometimes win that battle.

I know that slip-ups and setbacks are going to happen for the rest of my life. But I’d rather those be rare and “normal” eating be the norm versus the other way around.

I just want to have some wins in my battle. And sadly, those seem to be few and far between.

But I’m working on it. I just got approval from a doctor to take the new medication that is approved for binge eating disorders. I have no idea if this will help me, but the plan is to try the medication for a month and then reevaluate things. There are some side effects that worry me, but I have to try this. If it helps, that would be awesome. If it doesn’t, at least I know I tried it. Any help that I can get in my battle the better.

I wish that motivation could be enough to help me, but sadly it isn’t. And with this new hip surgery dependent on me losing weight, I know I have to do this more than ever. I went through this same thing with my first hip surgery and that is what brought me to doing the UCLA RFO program. While I know that that can get the weight off me, it doesn’t help keep the weight off me (if anything, it makes it worse). So while I’m in the same circumstance as before, I want to do this the right way this time. And since the surgery is not nearly as urgent as the first surgery, I’m allowing myself the time to lose my weight.

I will keep you all updated on how I do on this new medication. Depending on when I have time to pick it up, I might not be able to start taking it until this weekend or possibly even next week (sadly, I cannot pick this up at the 24 hour pharmacy). And even though I will be starting it, the doctor has no idea if the dosage will be correct so even if it works it might take months to start seeing results. I’ve gone through this with my panic meds before, so I know that I need to be patient and maybe this will not be the right medication for me.

But at least I will be finding out if I have a new “weapon” on my side in this battle.

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Default Thumbnail1 Week On Vyvanse (or Hoping To Answer Some Questions) Default ThumbnailA Year On Vyvanse (or Help Is Expensive) Default ThumbnailBinge Eating In The Media (or More Help Might Be On The Way) Default ThumbnailHonesty Time (or Going Backwards) Default ThumbnailGetting Out Of A Food Funk (or I Need To Get Back To My Good Work) Default ThumbnailSeeing My Heart Rate Spike (or What It’s Like Working Out On The New Medication)

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Posted in Health, Tough Stuff, Weight Loss

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A Welcome Distraction At The Film Festival (or Loving Second Place)

Posted on March 11, 2015 | 1 comment

I spent most of the weekend busy stressing out about the film festival. There wasn’t much time to think about anything else or to do anything else over those days.

So when I found out that the party to announce the winners of the latest weight loss challenge was going to be announced on Saturday, I knew that it would be impossible for me to go. But I asked the leader of my team in the challenge, Bruce, to send me an email to let me know what happened at the party.

On Saturday, I was running around like crazy trying to get things done so I wasn’t even thinking about missing the party. So when I sat down during one of the screenings to check the dozens of emails and texts that I had missed, I got very excited when I saw that there was one from Bruce.

And here’s what it said:

OTFLA WLC Email

While I had an idea that I might place in the local challenge, I was not expecting second place!

I got a follow-up email after that one that said that as the second place winner I will get a free month of membership. That’s pretty awesome!

The national challenge winners haven’t been announced yet, but I really doubt that I placed in it. Unless the winner of the local challenge at my location placed first or second and I got fourth. But that seems very unlikely.

I didn’t quite lose my goal of 10% of my body weight, but I was close, But if I did reach that goal, I still would have been in second place. The winner in the local challenge lost something like 15 or 16% of their starting body weight.

But even if I didn’t place at all, I still would be happy with the work that I did over the challenge. I worked out really hard, made sacrifices in my social life (and my sleep) to get in the required workouts each week, and I worked on my diet more than I have in the past. All of these are positive changes that won’t be ending because the challenge is over.

Considering that I didn’t place in the first weight loss challenge and I got second in this challenge, maybe the next challenge will be my turn to place first! And maybe I’ll be updating this post soon if I end up placing in the national challenge!

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Posted in Celebrations, Fitness, Fun Stuff, Weight Loss

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