I Won The Contest And I Won My Life Back Too

The only thing that matters now is my mission.  Nothing will stand in the way anymore.  

The contest may be over but I am still on the journey of becoming the healthiest me that I can be ...  even if I hadn't won the money portion, I still won by getting my life back, however; as Cindy says.. was there ever any doubt that I would win? ... no.  I am extremely competitive and once I caught the vision of exercise and how very fun it was I have been hooked.  In the past 11 weeks I have walked over 230 miles, that is an average of 20+ miles per week.

I lost an additional 3.8 pounds on my eleventh week, which ended up being a total of 37.2 pounds.  I was shocked  but thrilled that every week I lost weight... I know the time will come that I will plateau and maybe even gain a pound here and there... I will just power through until my body understands this is a lifestyle change and not about dieting.

So, this week was crazy busy leading up the final weigh in, which is good in a way, most weeks are not going to be smooth sailing with eating healthy and exercising whenever I feel like it.  There are going to be challenges that get in the way.  Here is my week, Monday I got up and walked about two and half miles, then I took Valentina to get her ears pierced in the evening(no go though, they wanted her health card)... we went home, talked to my sister who was in town visiting.  Tuesday morning I walked about two and a half miles in the morning and then in the evening I spent that with my physiotherapist and then my sister showed up and we talked until quite late. Wednesday I walked another two and a half miles, then Wednesday evening was all about having a family dinner, there were nine of us and we had a good time. Thursday I walked about two miles and then saw my physiotherapist again.

I was completely exhausted by this point and I knew I was taking a break from walking on Friday, I left for work early and in a pretty good mood as I felt confident that I had worked hard enough to win and I was thrilled that I was still in the zone of wanting to stay healthy and keep on this path.  I have goals such as the 5k I am running/walking on October 6th... plus I really want to take up Zumba and maybe Latin dancing this winter.  Anyhow, I looked down at my phone and there was a message from my David... it was 6:30 am my time and 3:30 am his time, I opened the message and instantly my mood changed... he wanted me to know he had been admitted to the hospital, due to complications with his stomach.  The air was knocked out of me, I started to panic and all I wanted in that moment was to be able to go to him but it wasn't possible, he is thousands of miles away.

I sat on the bus crying with worry, praying constantly for David... he's my best friend, he is the man that I love and I couldn't be there for him.  I somehow made it to work but the whole day was a massive blur, I took calls, answered questions on auto pilot, made my way home... I had won the contest and it felt good but all that mattered was finding out if my D was alright... Finally later in the evening I got a quick message that they would be keeping him in for one more day and that there would be no emergency surgery.  He's not out of the woods yet, he may still need surgery in the near future... but at least for now he isn't in imminent danger.  I am very relieved about this but also sad that I am this far away from him... I can only imagine how his daughter is feeling, she must be so worried...

The good thing about all this is that when I nearly fell apart about David, I didn't think what can I eat, I just let myself feel and I cried when the emotion came up.  It was okay for me to be sad and worried, I had no way of knowing how he was... I had to wait to hear from him... I didn't use the crazy busy week I had as an excuse not to eat healthy good food an even though I was challenged to exercise as much as I like, I still exercised as much as I could.  That proves to me that I am not just on this weight loss kick for a contest, I am on this weight loss kick for the long haul, I am getting my life back day by day.

We can all do this, we just have to decide it and not give up when challenges are thrown our way, just power through. I actually won my life back this past eleven weeks...

I cherish my past, I accept my present and I dream for my future ♥