The Quote … I now live by

This is something that has echoed in my head since I did a walk with Brad at TBLR

 & I was struggling to breathe up the hills.

He was teaching me to control my breathing.. 

 the old me puffed & huffed &  panted & stopped, when I got out of breath …

but he kept saying to me..

“ it doesn't matter how slow you go just don't stop…slow your breathing down & keep going…..

What a difference it has made…

 I use to avoid hills…

now I just slow down my breathing & go  not stopping …

Kim

You're the Winner

Sometime in May about a month after starting 12WBT,
 I was watching the nightly show of The Biggest Looser TV show & they advertised that they were giving away  a weeks accommodation, flights, meals, personal trainers at the new Biggest Looser Retreat on the Gold coast for 2  valued at $6,000. 

So after sobbing through another episode I completed the application  and filled in  25 words why I should win.
What did I write…I really have no idea… I think it was something about  stoping obesity in my family & I wanted to take my daughter with me…
I really didn't think twice about it  as I am often filling things in online hoping I would win something.

Then in June, I arrived home late from work, around 9.30pm  & decide to check my emails.

My hubby had gone to bed as he gets up at 4am for work.

In my emails was an email saying;

“ Congratulations, You have been selected as our deserving winner,
I believe you are wishing to take your daughter on the experience. The package includes return airfares to QLD, a weeks accommodation for two, gourmet spa cuisine and daily health & wellness experiences.

 At first I thought great after a long day, a hoax email telling me I have won something…
then I read it again… & again..trying to work out if it was a hoax…
so I printed the email out and left it on the kitchen bench for my hubby to read & went to bed.

I posted  a message on Facebook to family & sent a text message to Jackie saying, “ I think I have just won us a holiday to the New Biggest Looser Retreat”. I still wasn't sure.

In the morning I rang hubby & asked him what he thought …he said  yea you one of ten possible winners…ok so I didn't win..he then said, “ I gave them your phone number didn't they ring you yesterday” I said, “ no,  but their is a number on this email to ring” “I’ll try & ring it today but I’m really busy today”.

Arriving at work I showed the email to my colleagues asking what they thought….I think they were more excited than I was.

Then I rang Channel 10 & asked to speak to Joanne, well what excitement, when I finally asked her did I win & she said yes, yes  we were so touched with what you wrote …hahaha little did she know I had no idea what I wrote ..still not believing I said so its not a hoax…No  No she said “You have won” …wow how my world was about to change…

I message Jackie & said  get ready we have won…
her words were “ wow  mum can you imagine the gym…
well no…. I didn't even think that…..
I thought wow I’ll be able to get a massage,  meals cooked…
I didn't even think of what their gyms would be like  cause I am really not into exercise at all.

Then the reality started to set in of what I had won..OMG they are going to kill me with exercise…
2 month ago I could barely  walk 100 meters without stopping puffing & puffing..
if they exercise like they do on the show I'm going to die….
                                
The Biggest Looser Retreat open their doors at the Gold Coast at the beginning  of July.
 I hadn't heard anything  about my prize other than I would be contacted to select a dates to go.
Jackie & I had the first 2 weeks of July on holidays.. we are both teachers, she went of to Melbourne for  a break & I was cooking up a storm with meal planning from 12WBT & walking. 

Then I got another email asking when we would like to come to the  Retreat …
we have a vacancy for next week if you would like to come then …
well, I would like to wait till I can move a better & have lost a bit more weight cause you guys are gona kill me ..is what I was thinking..

but I didn't say a thing & asked Jackie what she would like to do…
"we need to go now mum.. now" …. so 3 days later we were at The Biggest Looser Retreat on the Gold Coast.

Jackie has posted her experience there, mine post  is coming.

                                     

Kim

PS I didn’t die

Kim’s Journey

This  is about how I got to where I am today.
I started this current  phase of my journey 15 weeks ago when my daughter Jackie  ask me to do Michelle Bridges 12WBT with her.
My first  reaction was I don't think I can cope with failing again.
I have been on one  diet or another  for nearly 40 years and have manage to weight 163.5kg at my heaviest. For someone who is only 163cm  or 5’4” tall that's a lot of weight. Some  diets like weight watchers  I have done several times. I have done them all!!! from ever type of restriction diet like;  no fat, no sugar, no carbs, to: just soup diets, one food type each day, pre-package, meals, Lite n easy,Jenny Craig, protein only diets, Protein shakes, acupuncture, Hypnotherapy - where you think you have had lapband surgery..Its hard to remember them all. All were successful in getting me to loose 10 kilos or so  but all I could not maintain the diet   for one reason or another & I’m afraid I never really got into exercising regularly. Time frame  for sticking  to these diets  was also about the same time each time. I  would be brilliant first 2-4 weeks  seeing weight come off then slowly  I would start waving with old habits and by 6 to 8 weeks I would be lacking motivation to stick to it missing all my comfort foods. Sometimes I lasted longer  but eventually I would  gain the weight back  and a bit more as well.  So I am the classic yoyo dieter. Resulting  in  going from 80 kg (the smallest I ever remember being)  in my early 20’s to 163.5kg  in my 50’s.
At the time  when Jackie ask me  to do 12WBT, I  was at the end of 2 difficult years for me with my health. I had a workplace accident where I tore the tendon that goes from your big toe to your heel. When it happen I was still on one of the many diets & weighed about 140kg and treatment for nearly 12 months was have me sit with my foot up waiting for it to heel & putting me on a drug called Duromine- to stop me feeling hungry. What a mixture …. Duromine is basically speed  so here I am sitting not being able to move around, trying not to eat too much & having all this energy I could not get rid of.  By the time they agreed that sitting wasn't fixing the problem  I had put on another 10 kilos and  fitness wise, I could hardly walk anywhere without panting. After the operation I had no more pain  which was excellent  but now I had another issue. No pain but my heel was numb  which meant when I put it on the floor I cant not feel the ground…its a very strange feeling. So I learnt to walk again  with a numb foot and extra weight…I tried a few more diets & hypnotherapy, constantly at chiropractors  trying to fix my gait when walking. Then at the beginning of this year  I could hardly breath  and doctors  thought I had developed a clot on my lung, but  after testing  & being scared out of my life & seeing several Doctors, I was diagnosed with a twisting rib…it was like the straw that broke the camels back .. is this how life is going to be now…just pain all the time. I think looking back I was probably on the verge of a break down & I turned to comfort eating through the pain. Then through lots of treatments by caring medical professionals including my GP giving me  laser acupuncture, massages & chiropractic visits  my rib went back in…& I weighed 163.5kg. How could I be that heavy..scales must be wrong…
During this time I was watching  Biggest Looser  series on TV with parents and children with obesity problems and during most episodes I would just sob relating to so many things. And that's when Jackie asked  “do this with me mum…” I said  let me have a look at what it involves but I knew I would be doing it with her not wanting her to fail.  I would do it for her…I hated seeing her struggle with the same weight issues. Little did I know at the time it would change my life forever.
Our obesity  problems in our family go back through the generations. My father died at 46 of a massive heart attack when Jackie was only 3 months old,he was a big big  man, his father died 12 months before him also obesity related, my youngest sister also struggles with her weight and now my daughters have had weight issues. There has to be a better way other than having surgery, which I have had 3 doctors tell me I need to go have.
I am an intelligent educated woman why can I not  get my weight under control.
So we signed up to Michelle Bridges 12WBT that was 15 weeks ago

this was me

 

& this is me today 

after 12 weeks of healthy eating & walking

I have released 15 kilos-
bust = -10cm, waist = -24cm, hips= -7cm,
thighs = -9cm, arms = –2cm
& have just signed up to do another 12 weeks with 12WBT.
Jackie & I are going to document our journey hoping that our struggles and successes help others put an end to obesity.
I did not fail,  It was the diets that failed me…
This is not a diet we are on, its a lifestyle change with health eating and we are getting healthier and fitter every day.

Kim    

Quote of the Day

Enjoy  your Day 

Kim