Gold's Gym International

First, I wanted to thank everyone who supported me during this challenge--too numerous to mention everyone individually, but my heartfelt gratitude to all.  Also, thanks to Golds Gym for creating this community, without which I might not have had the incentive to work as hard as I did, and probably would have fallen back into the same old unhealthy patterns I've had all my life.  Once one works as hard as this to get fit and changes their whole lifestyle, it sets the tone for the rest of their lives.

 

Second, Congrats to Kellie, who did an amazing job, and for being the best competitor one could hope to go up against.  Her upbeat attitude and wonderful personality comes across on her posts, blogs and shining smile in her after pics (and even her before pics!).  AND Congratulations to all the challengers for making the steps necessary to get healthy.

 

Third, I have an update on my health.  My doctor took me off of my blood pressure medication on Friday!  This was great news and even more incentive to keep on going in my healthy journey.

 

In Love and Light,

Lorraine

Hi everybody,

Thanks so much for your well wishes and prayers.  My mom is doing MUCH better.  There's talk that she might be able to come home this weekend.  She's still hooked up to 4 different IVs, though, so I don't know if that's true or not.  I'm sure she's ready to get back home.  I feel very relieved.

 

This week has been a bit difficult.  My mom, who lives with us, got very ill early Saturday morning, and I finally brought her to the emergency room that night.  They admitted her, after many hours in the Emergency room.  I left her at 2:40 a.m., and got home at 3:00 a.m. on Sunday morning.  I tried to get some sleep, because I knew the Easter Bunny was going to be here very soon, but I didn't do very well in the sleep area.  When I went to go see her on Sunday, she was just as ill, and on Monday as well.  By Monday I was told she has gastroenteritis, along with a blood infection--sepsis (sp?).  Yesterday when I went to go see her, they were moving her roommate out of the room.  I was told that she also had severe salmonella poisoning, and I now had to wear a gown and gloves to visit her.  She was also still retching (since Sat. morning!) and extremely exhausted and miserable.  This morning, my daughter is home sick.  I also work at home and have been under a deadline to get something done.  During all this I have been waking up in the morning, and thinking I just can skip the gym today.  But, I've worked so hard, and by the time I'm brushing my teeth I decide I'm going to go workout.  If I can get through this and continue to take care of my health, I think I can continue on for the rest of my life!  It certainly has been tough, though.  I'm off to go see my mom at the hospital.  Your good thoughts and prayers would be very much appreciated.

     So here it is!  This is really happening.  I'm so excited, and so thankful to all of you who voted for me.  I just want to give you a little background of my weight loss so far, to let you know how hard I've worked to get here.  I don't think I have to give my personal background of how I ended up overweight and unhealthy.  It's the story that most people with an overweight problem have--struggling w/weight all our lives; food is comfort; yo-yo dieting; and all the rest.  Not a pretty or easy story.

     I'm a wife and a mother of two--13-year-old daugther and 8-year-old son.  My mom also lives with us.  With the support and help of my wonderful family, I have been going to the gym 6 days a week (7 for the last three weeks).  Monday, Wednesday and Fridays were weight training in the morning followed by cardio.  Then I would go back in the afternoons/evenings for another session of cardio.  Tuesdays and Thursdays--cardio in the morning and evening.  Saturdays--cardio in the morning.  Then I would take off on Sunday to let my body recover a bit before the full week of workouts.  I realized a long time ago that simple carbohydrates are a problem for me.  I went to healthy carbs and protein.  I also stopped eating when I was feeling full, rather than taking the last one, two or three bites that might be on my plate.  I grew up being told to "Eat everything on your plate." 

     I have a business that I've been working on building up (http://www.namastelighteducation.com).  Since I'm in the business of helping others, I realized that I wasn't being a very good role model if I wasn't even healthy myself.  So I put my health and this challenge as top priority.

     I'm feeling so much better than when I started this challenge!  My feet and ankles aren't swelling anymore.  I feel strong.  I was able to go to a museum last week, and still felt wonderful after we were done--no aching feet; no exhaustion.  I have gone from a size 18 to a size 12, which feels wonderful.  (Trying to get to a size 6.)

     There have been some people who have told me that I inspire them.  And I think, "Who?? Me???"  Then I feel this amazing gratefulness, for this is what I want to do.  I want people to know that they can achieve anything in their lives, and it's never too late.  I will be 50 in June, and I plan at being at my healthy weight and living a fully healthy lifestyle by then.  If I'm feeling good now, I know I will be feeling GREAT by then.

     Thank you, all of you for this wonderful opportunity--my husband, Tom, my mom, Isabelle, my two wonderful children, Ann Marie and Bobby, my trainer, Dan Graziano, Gold's Gym of Annandale, VA, everyone who has supported me and voted for me, and everyone who is going to vote for me.  My deepest gratitude to you all.

I wanted to thank all of you for being challengers in this amazing journey we took together. At first we decided on our own that we needed to make a change. Then we found this wonderful community of people, who just like us, were trying to change their lives for the better. And even more than that, they were there to encourage, support and cheer each other on. I want to thank each and every one of you for that, and the kind words in all the posts and your own blogs. Also–last, but most certainly not least–I want to thank you all for your support in voting for me in this 1^st round of the challenge. No matter what the outcome, this has been quite a rewarding experience, and I feel connected to so many people that I’ve never actually met. It’s quite an amazing feeling.

 

All of you keep up the great work that you've started.  My thoughts will be with you all as I continue on my own healthy journey.

 

In Love and Light,

Lorraine