Final Essay

I handed in my essay to the health coach on Thursday who was pretty impressed. She obviously can't guarantee that I'll win first place, but she said I will definitely get one of the prizes (of course I want first). I then asked if anyone lost more than me and she said "No". I was really shocked. She said about 3 of us are around the same weight loss. I didn't know of anyone who had lost more than me, but I don't know everyone that entered and it's pretty tight lipped about actual weight lost around the office. I for sure thought a guy lost more than me.

Here are pictures of my essay. The pictures are crappy because they are taken at work after I bound it there. I had 5 tabs. Essay, Before/After Pictures (that I posted here last week), Food/Exercise Log, Weekly Blogs, BMI results. I definitely had this plan all along to help boost my essay score. I'm hoping this will tip me over the edge to be the winner since 50% of the overall total is the essay. Everyone else's essays I saw (in her folder) were single sheets of paper so I'm hoping the judges will be impressed. Below I've posted my actual written essay.

This week I lost 3 pounds and am a total of 44 pounds lost (6 lbs until 50-wow) and only 20 to go. Can't believe it! My health coach suggested HITT training so I'm trying a new workout regime the next 3 weeks and will blog about it afterwards. It stands for high-intesity interval training that you do twice a week for 20 min., but the afterburn lasts several hours. It's great for burning fat and for getting a great workout in quickly. I tried it on Thursday and will do it again on Monday.

ESSAY:

I have wanted to get into shape for 8 years. While living in London I exercised almost daily but didn’t watch what I ate. After joining Isagenix I saw results from the 9-day cleanse but only temporarily because I didn’t exercise or change my diet. After 2 kids in 4 years added more weight, enough was enough. I was tired of excuses. I took this challenge head-on to get in shape the right way and permanently change how I and my family live.

I knew I needed drastic changes. I stopped bad habits I had formed: Diet Coke, fast food, and sugar. I started good ones like using more Isagenix products, drinking lots of water, and eating only healthy food. I committed to work out 6 days a week.

Within the first week I knew I needed to track calories. I found a great website (see food/exercise log tab) where I could even add products I use regularly such as the shakes, bars, IsaPro, WME, IsaDelight, and Cleanse. I love figuring out calories in recipes, tracking what I expend, and logging weight loss. I had chosen to be oblivious to calories, and this really opened my eyes and changed what I put in my body.

I knew that exercise was going to be tough, having done almost none in 5 years. I prepared to battle my fat with new shoes and exercise clothes, an iPod, and a gym membership. I could only do 20-25 minutes of cardio at first, but I worked up to 40-45 while adding yoga, pilates, and now weights. I love the gym and how I feel after going and don’t want to miss workouts.

To keep me accountable and motivated, I blogged weekly for friends and family (see blog tab), sharing diet, exercise, and weight loss. I also found a great saying that motivated me through tough times: “These months are going to pass, you can either change or still be the same.” Every day, week, and month, I chose change.

The four months of the IsaBody challenge have been about winning my body back and changing my life for good. I have lost 42 pounds (20% of my weight), 46.6 inches, and over 4% body fat (see BMI tab), and I have gone from a tight 14 to an 8. I kept my commitment of working out 6 days a week and eating good food the entire challenge even through 4 events, 3 vacations, and 3 family birthdays. I only have 23 pounds to my goal and will be close by Celebration. I feel incredible, have so much energy, and feel better about myself. I know I can do anything I set my mind to and am never going back to the old me.

I am so grateful for the products and Isagenix as a company for helping me make this transformation. I feel so proud to be an employee and to help others around me realize they can change and be healthy too.

Before & After Pictures

Ok-I don't have my official weigh-in before & after pictures STILL, but I included some before pictures I had of me and some "after" pictures from our vacations at the end of June. Shocking really. I think I was really fooling myself that it wasn't that bad. I can beat myself for letting things get to where they were or I can just be proud of where I've come to date and keep in mind my goal and to keep working to get there. The pages below I'll be including in my essay booklet.

p.s. Please notice Jordan's great weight loss too. He's lost 30 pounds since about September of last year. He just hasn't been vocally talking about it on here. He's fitter than he's ever been and is in super great running shape. He looks amazing and has some "skinny" jeans that look really good.





So...in addition to the 41 pounds, I've lost 2 inches in each of my upper arms, 9 inches in my waist, 4 inches off my behind, 5 inches in each of my thighs and then some other in other places for a total of 46.6 inches totally lost so far. I was a tight 14 and in L-XL shirts and am now in S-M shirts and size 8 pants. I'm hoping to be in a size 6 by Celebration, but we'll see. I haven't seen these sizes in a really long time. I am still sometimes amazed at how just watching my calories and exercising every day for 35-45 minutes has changed my body so quickly in 4 months. If I can do it, really so can anyone else. I was so unmotivated and lazy, but now that I'm in the habit and feel great I don't want to get back out of shape again. I don't want to go through this process again. This is the new me and way of life.

Final Weigh In

I am still waiting on the before and after photos to post here, but my final weigh-in was exactly 40 pounds. I was first to weigh-in Thursday morning and didn't eat anything and only took a few sips of water and peed right before I weighed in. I was over 40 pound weight loss at home, but knew the scale at work was different so wanted to make sure I hit the 40 pound mark which I DID!!!.

I am so proud of myself and my hard work. I committed to myself to working out 6 days a week the entire challenge and didn't miss 1 time. It's about time I took back control of my weight and body and can't believe the transformation that I've already gone through in 4 short months. One of my favorite quotes I came across at the beginning was essentially: "These months will pass regardless of what you do - do you want to change or still be the same?" I chose to CHANGE and never look back! These are permanent life changes I have made and great healthy food and working out is now part of my routine. I still have 24 pounds to go, but I know I can do it. My goal is to get to my goal weight by mid-September.

I am working hard on my essay and will post about it once it's off to the judges.

Here is how the judging breaks down:
50% is before and after pictures and stats
50% is the essay that is between 250-500 words

Essay is due July 16.
Results are announced August 10.

I have great plans for my essay and will update when I can. I am getting my final BMI results done next Thursday to include in my essay.

I am nervous about how everyone else has done and am shooting for first place so we'll see what happens. If you are on Facebook be on the lookout on August 10th about the results. Thanks for all your support and kind words. It's not always easy attacking the fat and making the hard choices to win your body back.