Day 16 Holiday Challenge thread is available for check-in in the forum here.
I will be posting my day accountability/goals in the AM for each day but I will prep and put up each day, 1 day early for those of you that would rather post your goals for the next day in the evening (and for our friends in exotic time zones) 😉
Feel free to comment here as well, but I would love to get Holiday Challenge discussion going in the forum! Thanks!
Go Team!
P.S. Need info about the challenge? Go here!
Day 15 Holiday Challenge thread is available for check-in in the forum here.
I will be posting my day accountability/goals in the AM for each day but I will prep and put up each day, 1 day early for those of you that would rather post your goals for the next day in the evening (and for our friends in exotic time zones) 😉
Feel free to comment here as well, but I would love to get Holiday Challenge discussion going in the forum! Thanks!
Go Team!
P.S. Need info about the challenge? Go here!
We need to give ourselves permission to act out our dreams and visions.
Even if it takes a lifetime.
~ Vijali Hamilton
Somehow I learned at an early age what it was to have a vision for my life. I’m not sure if everyone by instinct has this desire. I would hate to think that it’s not the case. I would like to think that everyone has the feeling deep down in the core of their being, that they were created for something greater than what they could see at any one point in time.
I think this is what I felt deep down inside as a child looking out over the river from the top of the hill in back of our home. I know that so much of the positive beliefs that I held for myself and my future had everything to do with the incredible support that I felt from my parents. I really did believe that I could do or be anything.
I think that many kids do have this belief and asking a child what they want to be when they grow up is one of my favorite questions. Don’t you love it how they dream BIG dreams at a young age? It’s only as we grow older, and are faced with dealing with some of life’s inevitable disappointments that we lose this kind of hope and thoughts of what is possible.
For sure, my life has not turned out exactly as I thought it would but then again I can’t say that I have a lot of regrets. I’ve made lots of mistakes to be sure. But I’ve also fulfilled many dreams and definitely believe that the dreams of my childhood are still coming to fruition.
I still believe that I can do anything I set my mind to. The 100+ lbs of weight loss has helped once again to keep that dream alive because for awhile my weight was such a limiting factor to my mind really.
I believe in the power of goal setting. I believe that it is of vast importance that one seeks to know a purpose for their life. Creating a vision and mission statement can be so very powerful in the process of change and forward movement. Weight loss has taught me that as well.
What are some of my current dreams as I get ready to move into 2010 (and celebrate my 40th!)?
…there are probably a few more but these would be the main points on my mind.
For sure as the New Year gets closer, I will spend a great deal of time specifically looking at how I envision 2010 and what are the goals needed to make that vision a reality. (more on this to come, I am sure)
I encourage you to think about your childhood visions and your current visions.
I would love to hear from you below…thanks!
(Original Air Date 12/8/2009)
Yay! It’s Biggest Loser Season 8 Finale!
Tonight’s show opens with a recap of the contestant and the season.
Next, who did America vote in to compete for the final prize – Amanda or Liz?
America originally voted Amanda in as their choice for this season and they voted her in as the 3rd finalist again tonight! Personally I love Amanda and want her to win!
Alison brings Jillian and Bob out and they discuss a few highlights of the season.
Next the previously eliminated contestant would hop on the scale to compete for the $100,000 at home prize.
Here is the breakdown of their weight loss:
Weigh-In Results: (% total lost, total pounds lost, current weight, starting weight)
Alexandra: 29.45%, -91 lbs, 218 lbs, 309 lbs
Antoine: 41.42%, -152 lbs, 215 lbs, 367 lbs
Sean: 34.91%, -155 lbs, 289 lbs, 444 lbs
Julio: 44.23%, -180 lbs, 227 lbs, 407 lbs
Coach Mo: 25.92%, -92 lbs, 283 lbs, 355 lbs
Dina: 31.23%, -79 lbs, 174 lbs, 253 lbs
Abby: 40.49%, -100 lbs, 147 lbs, 247 lbs
Tracey: 47.20%, -118 lbs, 132 lbs, 250 lbs
Shay: 36.13%, -172 lbs, 304 lbs, 476 lbs
Daniel: 35.58%, -111 lbs, 201 lbs, 312 lbs
Rebecca: 49.82%, -139 lbs, 140 lbs, 279 lbs
Allen: 35.69%, -116 lbs, 209 lbs, 325 lbs
Liz: 34.08%, -91 lbs, 176 lbs, 267 lb
For a bit it looks as if the infamous Tracey is going to win this portion of the competition, but then Rebecca, with her 49.82% weight loss comes in and scoops it up for the win!
Congrats on the weight loss and the $100,000 Rebecca!
Everyone looks absolutely amazing!
Next Alison, Jillian and Bob surprise America’s beloved Shay with a great opportunity. Subway wants to invite Shay to the Biggest Loser Season 9 Finale. They are offering her #1000 for every lb that she loses between now and then. Her current weight is 304, so we could see a HUGE loss for Shay and a HUGE check for her at Season 9 Finale. Way to go Shay! All of America is behind you and we want to see you succeed!
Surprise Proposal!
Antoine proposes to contestant Alexandra (they had been dating since they left the Ranch) and she says yes! Yay! Congrats you two!
On to the final weight in for the grand prize and Season 8 Biggest Loser…
Weigh-in results: (Danny gets to choose the order as he was the Biggest Loser while at the Ranch.
Amanda: 34.80%, -87 lbs, 163 lbs, 250 lbs
Rudy: 52.94%, -234 lbs, 208 lbs, 442 lbs
Danny: 55.58%, -239 lbs, 198 lbs, 430 lbs
WooHoo Danny! Awesome win and he does not even look like the same person at all! Talk about a big inspiration!
Way to go!
This was a great season! We also saw highlights of Season 9 which will be starting up in Jan. 2010.
Until then, stay motivated friends! YOU can lose your weight also!
Good parents can be found everywhere. I’m sure that you are among the best of the best! My parents were great and I as an adult I recognize the value of so many things that they did for me and taught me.
If I were ever to be a parent, I would hope to instill these same values in my children.
1. The importance of family
My parents were so great about creating the most wonderful family time. I am especially fond of the camping memories that I have. I did fight with my siblings for sure, as all kids do, but I also remember really enjoying being with them. We had a lot of fun together. I feel very fortunate that as an adult I count my four siblings among my very best friends and I know that is due to how our parent raised us.
2. They attended ALL of our events.
When I think about this today, it is absolutely mind boggling how my parents juggled everything. Somehow with both of them working full-time, they still managed to attend anything of importance for all 5 of us kids. I’m not just talking about the biggies here…I’m talking every sports game, concert, play, meeting, etc. They were SO present. I’m sure it could not have been easy at all. AND we were all VERY active in school. I so appreciate this about them. They were also always willing to open our home up for having all the friends over, sleep overs, parties (the good non-alcoholic kind). My friends would ask me to have them chaperone our dances. (really?!) and they did all of that!
3. They have ALWAYS been very supportive.
Related to point 2, I have always felt complete support from my parents. Throughout school, they would encourage us with our varied interests whether sports, music or general school activities. They hired a great vocal teacher for my sister and I. We would all travel the 40 minutes one way, once a week to get us to our lessons. When my Grandparents presented me with the opportunity to attend a boarding school (more on that in another post) for a semester, they supported it even though I know if was difficult for them to see me leave home at such an early age. When I wanted to spend my summers out East as a nanny so that I could begin to explore some of this inviting big world I’d been dreaming of, my parents allowed me to pursue this.
Even as an adult, I feel that consistent solid support of my parents. I know that they don’t always understand or agree with my decisions but they are steadfast in their support and believe in me. I have always felt that and I’ve always felt that I could achieve anything I set my mind to. I know this has everything to do with how they parented me. Even today, as I write this from my parents home (they are away traveling for the winter) I feel their support. I had planned to be here while they traveled and then that plan also became a necessity when I lost my job a few months ago. I’m so grateful to them that I am here today.
4. They taught me the foundations of my Christian faith.
I was raised Lutheran and grew up attending church and Sunday school weekly as well as bible camp in the summer. My family would read the bible and recite prayers each night after dinner and I knew all the classic hymns of worship. I didn’t really know what all of this meant in my life at the time. Heck, I didn’t really enjoy it all that much, truth be told. It was just something we did because we had to. No questions asked…really.
Into my adulthood, I would wander away a bit in terms of my faith. Like many young adults I began to question the things that I had been taught about “religion” as a child. I knew that the Lutheran church was not really the place for me. (nothing against Lutherans, of course!)
While living in San Francisco, I visited both extremes. One moment I felt more like I didn’t believe in God at all to then finding a wonderful little Foursquare Christian church which would become my home of sorts. I will speak more about this in another post, but for now I’ll just say that it was here that I began to know what it was to be in relationship with God.
Even though our spiritual paths and beliefs (Our core beliefs are the same.) have been different, I’m so grateful to my parents for bringing me up in a Christian home and for giving me that core knowledge of the Bible which is so important to me today.
5. They taught me to be a good person.
I am in no way claiming to be a saint here. For sure, I have my faults. I think my parents raised my siblings and me to be good people….to care about others and to know and do the right thing. At a young age, I learned that lying and stealing were wrong. IÂ learned a lesson as a child that some of you may have experienced which was having to take back something that I had taken to a store. Ick! What a horrible thing! And what a lesson. To this day, I would go out of my way to find an owner of found money, give back incorrect change at the grocery store, etc. I say this not to make it seem like I am so perfect…believe me, I’m not. BUT I do know the feeling in my gut when I do the “right” thing vs. the “wrong” thing. My parents taught me this.
These are just a few of the many things I appreciate most about my parents. I mentioned in an earlier post that they were in a bad accident 4 years ago. My siblings and I are SO grateful that they are still with us. I plan to be appreciating them for many more years and have assured them that I don’t plan for it to be from their own home for much longer! 😉
Thanks for everything Mom and Dad! I love my parents!
Starting Weight: Jan 1, 2007 – 278 lbs
Previous Week’s Weight: November 30, 2009 – 175.4 (holiday weight – boo!)
Current Weight: December 7, 2009 – 170.4 lbs
Week 153 Weight Loss:Â 5 lbs YAY! See notes below!
Total Weight Loss: 107.6 lbs
Exercise Report:
Cardio x 5
Strength Training (Upper body) x 3
Strength Training (Lower body) x 3
Abs x 2
Food Report:
VERY Good thanks to my Holiday Challenge Support Team – you all rock!
Notes:
Day 14 Holiday Challenge thread is available for check-in in the forum here.
I will be posting my day accountability/goals in the AM for each day but I will prep and put up each day, 1 day early for those of you that would rather post your goals for the next day in the evening (and for our friends in exotic time zones) 😉
Feel free to comment here as well, but I would love to get Holiday Challenge discussion going in the forum! Thanks!
Go Team!
P.S. Need info about the challenge? Go here!
School bullying – I feel the pain of those that are bullying victims for sure!
The pictures here are of me in the 3rd and 4th grades. I went to elementary school (grades 1-4 only) in the small town where I grew up.
My class was SMALL and by small I do mean that there were 7 of us. 4 boys and 3 girls! It was fun at times but mostly difficult the way that I recall it.
The three of us girls seemed to have a hard time ALL getting along. There was always a battle to be the best friend and always seemed to be an odd man (girl) out! How sad is that?!
I remember being teased like crazy from the 4 boys as well as the boys in the class ahead of us. At the time, everyone (my parents) would say the famous “they just tease you because they like you”. That may have been true, but it certainly didn’t feel like it. Looking back now as an adult, there really was some pretty serious bullying going on.
I can remember being physically hurt. In fact one day my parents got called in to the principal because I had been punched in the stomach. Yikes!
I know it was more than just teasing to me because I can remember not wanting to go to school and I can actually remember the feeling of wanting to die – yuck! Not being overly dramatic…it’s just the truth.
I admit to watching Lifetime movies sometimes on the weekend and I recently watched “Odd Girl Out”. This movie was all about a poor young girl that went from being popular in school to getting bullied ALL because of a boy. (Her friend liked the boy and the boy liked her!)
The movie ended on a good note with the girl taking a stand and sticking up for herself against the bullies but this was after much turmoil including an attempted suicide.
Wow! We cannot be too careful with our children/teens when it comes to this fragile period of their lives. With today’s increase in technology there have been horrible cases of cyber bullying which have ended with teens taking their lives.
My story also ended on a good note. 😉 Years later, (in fact it was my high school graduation) the leader of that elementary school bully pack had shown up at my graduation party. He had moved away years prior to that. He pulled me aside with a gift and told me how sorry he was for the way he had treated me in grade school. Crazy, but good!
I’m a big child/teen advocate and believe that we must stop bullying before this situation gets even worse among our children and teens.
My thoughts on solitude ~
I quite enjoy being alone, which is a good thing considering I am about to turn 40 years old while still “enjoying” my single life. 😉
Don’t get me wrong, I am NOT anti-social at all and I don’t have any issues meeting new people or being with people in general. Those that know me well wouldn’t call me shy or NOT social. BUT truth be told, often I prefer to be by myself. I often prefer solitude to being with big groups of people.
I enjoy my own company. Does that sound prideful? I don’t mean it to be. I suppose this comes partly due to the fact that I have spent my adult life thus far as a single person. (with a few relationships throughout)
Writing this inspired me to look up the definitions for introverts vs. extroverts.
My quick definitions:
Extroverts: get “re-charged” from things outside of one’s self
Introverts: get “re-charged” from one’s own mental life
Though I definitely possess traits of the extrovert (enthusiastic AND talkative!), based on the definition I would say that I am much more introverted.
Now thinking back to my childhood, I can definitely remember seeking out my solitude. (Not a huge surprise really considering I grew up in a pretty busy household)
Here’s a picture that shows a bit of the back of our house:
You can’t really tell from this picture, but beyond what you can see if you go past the playhouse, (My parents built this for us – how cute is it?) is a huge (to me at the time) hill that I would climb. I’d trek up through the woods, with lunch/book in hand to get the top of the hill. Once I got to the top, my view would be of the river below.
I absolutely LOVED to do this. I would seek out other vantage points around my small town but always the view inspired me and always with the goal to enjoy solitude.
It was here on the hill that I learned to be with my own thoughts. I did pray and talk to God back then but at that time in my young life I really didn’t know the meaning of being in relationship with God…that would come later. BUT I knew there was something bigger than myself and I knew that my life would take me on a journey. I think my young mind felt the stirring of purposefulness, even back then. It’s very cool to remember these things…I hope you will do the same.
Today, I’m grateful that I am a woman that enjoys my own company. I pray and hope that one day I would be able to share my life with someone. I hope that my pleasure in solitude does not hinder my future relationship. I think I will be able to make the adjustment! 😉
What are your thoughts on being alone? Do you enjoy this time like me, or are you more often feeling lonely? Would love to hear it…
Day 13 Holiday Challenge thread is available for check-in in the forum here.
I will be posting my day accountability/goals in the AM for each day but I will prep and put up each day, 1 day early for those of you that would rather post your goals for the next day in the evening (and for our friends in exotic time zones) 😉
Feel free to comment here as well, but I would love to get Holiday Challenge discussion going in the forum! Thanks!
Go Team!
P.S. Need info about the challenge? Go here!
