I began this contest with lofty aspirations. I wasn’t new to this. I’d been lifting weights for years so how hard could this be? And contests always motivated my very competitive side. But along the way I was humbled. In the beginning, I thought fat loss would be a piece of cake if I just followed the rules and stuck with it. What I learned was that life gets in the way. Over the past ten weeks I was challenged. A LOT. I failed. A LOT. With two small children and a hectic life it wasn’t always as easy I thought it would be. And well, that’s just life. And that ended up being perfect. All the stumbling I did (and it was a lot!) made this contest the best thing that could have happened. If it had been so easy I never would have learned from my failures without the help of ME:
1. Failure is part of success. Fat loss is an ongoing project full of failures. Every single failure furthered me in my goals.
2. What works for me. I learned not to listen to all the generic advice out there and pay attention to my progress. I learned quickly, for me, what works and what doesn’t.
3. To visualize. Visualizing a successful fat-loss day goes a long, long way. This helped me BE the person I wanted to be and then DOing the work necessary to be that person. Priceless.
4. Failure to plan is a plan to fail. I learned to plan my days ahead of time and leave nothing to chance. This changed everything for me.
5. Change my rituals. A lot of junk I was eating or drinking was based on habits. ME helped me to be aware of these and replace them with more appropriate fat loss rituals like having hot cocoa in the afternoons or green tea instead of coffee.
I may not be “ripped” or “chiseled” but what I’ve gained is far more valuable. I learned how to live a happy life in a fat loss zone. All of my thoughts about food have changed and that means way more to me than a six-pack. I don’t feel deprived. I don’t crave fatty foods like I used to. And a big bonus I wasn’t expecting… thanks to all the information I’ve learned from ME, I am off the anxiety meds I was on previously. Because I learned about hormones and how to control them via food and exercise I was able to get my sleep and anxiety in order. Amazing! I’ve never felt better. When you know better, you do better and I not only feel knowledgeable enough to do better I feel knowledgeable enough to be a good role model for my family. My four year old son exercises with me every morning!! I’ve made significant life changes, and that is gold. I‘ve taken control of my fat loss goals, I’m able to pass the m on to my fam8ly. For that, I have no greater or more profound words than thank you. Thank you for showing me the way, for showing me how to get there and or teaching me how I may remain here on my now.
Weight: 132
Fat % based on excel spreadsheet: 25.6%