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Winner: Basic Workout Plus/Step Away the Inches Category
Judy Read
I hope you realize how grateful many others and I are to you for doing this contest. I think that many would agree with me when I say that it really doesn't matter the outcome of the official contest because we feel we are winners just for the motivation and perseverance you've helped us uncover. I know this has been a tremendous amount of extra work for you and now Teresa who has to wade through all these "after" pictures. You know I was finally ready to get serious this summer anyway but this contest was a nice extra to keep things rolling. It's kind of like playing miniature golf. The game is fun but when your ball goes in the special hole at the end for the free game then it's extra fun.
In February and March of this year I gained an extra twenty pounds on top of the extra I had been carrying around for the last few years. The stress of a divorce and coping with a house that needed so many repairs including a heating system really got to me and I just ate and ate and ate. For the first time in my life I got a stomach roll. Even when I would put on extra weight during pregnancies I had never been left with the dreaded "stomach" to deal with. I felt like I was carrying around a jello factory. None of my nice clothes fit for work. Skirts that I had worn after Christmas I couldn't even get around my hips in the spring. I rotated through the same four makeshift outfits all spring for work. I was really desperate. When I went for my yearly cardiology visit in late winter, the cardiologist said he would give me this year to take weight off and then next year we would "talk" if I hadn't. I have a prolapsed heart valve and the uphills are tough enough for me without carrying around a permanent built in weight pack. I thought I would die on that treadmill if it didn't stop soon. I had never felt like that during the stress test. My mother is a type II diabetic and this black cloud has been hanging over my head. My son and I are big hikers in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. We've now completed 23 of the 46 peaks over 4000 feet. Each spring we take a "quick" 12-mile hike over gentle rolling country as a good warm up for the season. The last three miles back to the car this year I knew I HAD to do something. The mountains are my love. The thought of not having the freedom to hike was out of the question. I wrestled with trying to fit in some Tapping while finishing off the school year. We tested for the first time a new state math regents and my stress level reached cloud level. While the school year was wrapping up I decided that I was going to change my life. I was going to clean up my diet, exercise regularly and take care of myself.
I entered the contest on July 2nd when I took my measurements to send in. I worked out on the day I measured then went away to my mother's house in the mountains. It wasn't until over a full week later after returning home that I seriously got started. On Sunday the 11th, I started a boot camp of SATI and BW+. I wasn't sure how long I could make it but I did make it to 14 days. I remember day 12 as being hard to get through, but I was pretty determined to make it through the full two weeks. At the end of the two weeks I knew I had made huge progress because my stomach had shrunk dramatically. At some point in there I took a quick measure of my waist and it was 3 inches smaller at that point. In June I had bought new shorts for the summer because I couldn't fit into last year's. I bought loose t-shirts to wear over the shorts to hide under. Even at the end of the boot camp my shorts were getting dramatically looser. Those shorts that I could barely look passable in I was now wearing with a tank top! I really started to feel good about myself. I was drinking lots of water with grapefruit oil and was able to give up most of the soda. I took the alfalfa to help flush my system. I improved my diet to cut out most of the junk carbs I had been surviving on. The day I finished the 14-day boot camp I left for a work weekend at my mother's mountain house. I scraped moss off the roof one day and went hiking the next. My son and I climbed two of the High Peaks (numbers 22 and 23 for us) and I won't say I flew through the woods but it sure was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. We made better time than the average in the guidebooks. All the SATI had really paid off. I had a week before I had to leave to make a big trip with my sister to the Southwest. I worked out each day of that week. I was so happy with my change in attitude and the change in my shape that I wanted to try to give it as much a boost as possible before the big trip. My daughter-in-law loaned me her portable DVD player so I was able to take it with me to New Mexico. I did SATI in the Phoenix, Arizona airport during a long layover!! I barely got any looks; most of the people in airports are too jet lagged to care. I have to tell you it felt great to work my muscles. I had driven four hours the day before, two hours that morning and had just gotten off a 5 1/2 hour flight to get to Phoenix. I did SATI every day in Santa Fe. I had decided that I should take the video I ENJOYED doing and SATI was it. I knew I wouldn't keep it up if it became a chore. I think I like the SATI so much because it's like hiking. The last few days when we drove to Colorado and back to see several National Parks or Monuments I just didn't have the time to exercise. Back home I picked up SATI again for a week. Then it was time to to go camping in Acadia National Park in Maine. This would be the test if the results were for real. Camping, I wouldn't be able T-Tapp. At home I tried doing the workouts with my back to the TV and I am just too clumsy without seeing Teresa, so I didn't think exercising from memory would work for me. Besides, the camping in Maine is my time to totally relax. We spend lots of time on those huge granite rocks just letting the ocean relax us while we eat our meals, read or carve birds. My 15-year-old son and I bike the carriage roads so we got exercise every day.
Hmmm so what does all this lead to?? WELL from July 2nd to August 25 I did 19 BW+ and 30 SATI. I lost 18 inches. I lost a whole generous size in my shorts. The 16s that I bought in June just barely fit and now they hang off me. In Maine I bought a size large sweatshirt instead of an extra large because the XL hung off me like a potato sack. And the large is a nice loose fit. At age 48 I had men in New Mexico whistle at me. Now that's something I didn't expect. I take care of myself. I am trying to eat healthy foods but not deny myself. I still have dark chocolate and ate lots of wonderful Mexican food while traveling. I use rhassoul and prairie oat mint soap at night to pamper myself (Kirsten again). I have POSTURE. Good posture. My shoulders are more comfortable back. No that's too polite. I love the way it feels to be able to stretch my shoulders back. It's like a massage. How could I not have mentioned that??? I can't begin to explain how the shoulders back, and down (thank you Kirsten) in PBS has improved my carriage. I look so much better just from keeping my shoulders back now naturally. When I drive I use that time to work the shoulders and lats. It's a huge fatigue fighter. The exercise in itself has given me a much more upbeat outlook on life. I'm happier. More content. I feel I can accomplish things.
I can't say enough for how grateful I am to the wonderful ladies on the forum. They are the heart and soul of this program. Everyone cheering each other on and picking us up when we trip. That includes Kitty who is always willing to share and help us out and Teresa who takes the time to answer questions both personal and general. I had to thank Virginia in a thread she started to me because she helped keep me accountable (even though that wasn't her intention). She also made me focus, to think out what I was doing.
On July 30th I wrote "my big goal for this summer is to exercise enough regularly that when we go back to school the end of August that it's a habit that my body will miss and crave if I don't do it. If that happens then I consider myself successful". I started back on August 25th for computer training and when the lunch break came I went home and did SATI and it felt SO good. I did it again today on the break. And tonight since the contest is over I did all of Lower Body Tempo. Now that was tough. I'm going to call out search and rescue to find my stomach muscles to help keep my legs in the air. So I've made my goal. I am a success. I was happy with my rate of progress but after comparing the July 2nd pictures with the August 25th pictures I am THRILLED. So I need to make a new goal. My new goal is to stick with taking care of myself, keep exercising, finding a schedule that I can keep, moderate but challenging enough so that next year the hiking will be easier even though I will be another year older. I think the next level of SATI might be just the ticket for me. And PBS to keep my shoulders back!
| LOSSES: |
|
| Bust: |
-1/2 |
| Waist: |
-5 |
| Abdomen: |
-3 1/4 |
| Hips: |
-1 1/2 |
| Right
Upper Thigh: |
-1 1/4 |
| Right
Lower Thigh: |
-1 |
| Left
Upper Thigh: |
-2 1/4 |
| Left
Lower Thigh: |
-1/2 |
| Right
Calf: |
-1/4 |
| Left
Calf: |
0 |
| Right
Arm: |
-1 1/4 |
| Left Arm: |
-1 |
| FINAL
INCH LOSS: |
-17 3/4 |
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