Ok…..I just came in from N.Y.C. From the Dr. Oz show, and I am sitting here in absolute awe of how the day unfolded. I can barely catch my breath thinking about all that happened today. Dreams do come true….

Let me start with the first “God-incidence” of how I got a ticket to the show….A few weeks ago, Meg and I were coming out of a class at the gym.. all hot, sweaty and looking pretty gross. As we walked toward the door to leave, we noticed a few girls standing by the desk, looking at the schedule of classes. We went over to tell them that they would LOVE every class, I told them that I would actually do commercials for this gym, and that was saying a lot, from a girl who was petrified to even walk in a gym 3 weeks before that. We all started talking a bit, I shared with them that I was in Dr. Oz’s challenge, and they were sooo nice and mentioned that they, along with a group of girls from their children’s school, had tickets to the Dr. Oz show, and they said they would try to get me one. (OK…you did get the fact that I have never met them before…).

The girls started coming to the gym and taking some classes with us, and during the vacation week, one of those women called me from Florida, while she was on vacation, to let me know that they got a ticket for me.

In the meantime, I started to think, if I got a ticket, maybe I could make up a great shirt to let Dr. Oz and his team know that I was in the challenge, and did all the steps I had to, to win… and that I truly believed I could win the entire challenge. During this journey, also, a friend of mine, Everardo, who is a spectacular artist, had told me that I should really have business cards made, so that when I share about my journey, I could give out a card that has my blog website on it. He came in from the city about 2 weeks ago, and spent hours creating a card for me. Then he asked to see my idea for the shirt I was thinking about, and in a matter of minutes, he sketched out the most amazing plan for the shirt. It took a whole day to find someone who would make it, but we found the perfect place that understood what we were trying to do. It would take at least a week to have made.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About 2 days later, the artwork plan for the shirt was sent to me by email. I was sooo excited when I saw it, and I sent the picture of it to my Weight Watcher’s leader. Elyse was so excited for me, and asked if she could send it to the public relations people at Weight Watchers. By the following Monday, I started to receive emails from public relations at Weight Watchers, and was asked to fill out some paperwork, to give a bit of my story in about 2 pages (which was the hardest thing to do, as this journey has been one extraordinary experience after another…how was I going to convey this in less than 2 pages?), and also send them a “before” and “after” picture so far. (That was also difficult, because I realized trying to find a “before” picture… that as overweight women, we throw out any picture we don’t like of ourselves, and the ones that are left, we are usually standing and hiding behind someone else.) It took a while, but I guess there were a few awful ones that I didn’t destroy.

The other thing that I realized, was that I really haven’t taken many pictures during this journey, so I had to quickly grab something to wear and have my husband take some pictures. Someone said to, “grab the jeans that use to be tight, and now are falling off of you”. So that’s what I put on and had him take a bunch of pictures. I was really under a time restraint, and was just praying that we could quickly get this done, and that I would be happy with just one picture. When we downloaded them, I actually really liked the picture, and was so thankful to see the progress so far, even though I have a long way to go. It was really a gift to be made to stop and take some pictures right now. I will really try to do that more, so that I have the pictures along the way, as uncomfortable as that is at times.

After I sent them to WW, I mailed the before and after pictures, side by side, out to a few friends, really stating under the pictures, that I chose one of my worst before pictures, which was very hard to put out there…. with that, a friend emailed back a short email that left me stunned and in tears, it said simply, “I love both Wendy’s!!!!”. Wow, that was a huge “aha moment for me”. Why is it that we don’t believe that we are seen as beautiful and loved just the way we are, feeling that “beautiful” can only be attached to us when we are at our goal weight? I’m finally understanding that I am seen as beautiful now, and was seen by friends as beautiful 46 pounds ago. Why did it take 47 years to understand that? That is going to be one of the hugest things that I want to pass on to other friends and strangers dealing with weight loss. You truly are beautiful… now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, let me bring you back to Tuesday of my “Dr. Oz” week, (the show we went to was the Wed. taping). On Tuesday, I started to get some more exciting emails, and the last email Tues. night said that the PR people at WW got in touch with people at the Dr. Oz show, and told them to keep a look out for me and my “cute shirt”.  My husband, Warren, brought the shirt home from work that night, I looked at it and couldn’t believe how perfect it was, and it was so exciting to see Everardo’s plan for the shirt come alive. I placed it on a chair and took pictures of it. I got everything together for the next morning, planned out an alternative outfit in case they made me take it off (as the notes for the audience stated “no words or logos”, went to bed with the shirt hanging next to my bed, looking at it and just praying that the Lord would continue to orchestrate the next day, praising Him for what He had done so far, and just asking Him to help me walk through the day, showing me what to do, and giving me the right words to be able to express to anyone I would talk to at the show, this amazing journey, and how it has been something bigger than I could have ever imagined. I know it is much bigger than I am, and I just want to continue to walk through it with God’s wisdom and grace.

I met the 15 ladies who invited me to go with them at the train station at 6:30am. They were all so wonderful. I took off my coat to show them the shirt, and tell them a bit of the story. They were all so excited for me and we continued walking through NYC to get to the show, talking and getting to know one another. We walked into the room to check in, and I opened my coat to show my shirt to a person in charge, and let them know that I was told that ww let someone know that I was coming. They told us to go and walk around after checking in, and come back at 9:10. We did, and when we walked back in, someone called my name and took me over to a table in the corner to ask me a little bit about my story. I had my ww binder, all the things that I wanted to share, and shared some of my story with them. I took off my coat to show them my shirt, and turned around to show them the check list on the back, I told them that I had a hot pink marker for Dr. Oz to check the second to last box which said, “Met Dr. Oz”….and then I shared with them that I totally believed that I would be telling him that I will be back, standing next to him when he checks off the last box that says, “5/23/12-Won the challenge!”

There was a couple standing near the table, waiting for the show, listening to what I was sharing, and the man said, “I think we should get a picture with you, I think you are going to be famous!”….  One of the women I was talking to, asked if I could take off the shirt, and she was going to bring it to the producers. I did, and I also asked if she could bring a packet that I created, to the producers also. It had the packet that I created for everyone asking me what I am doing to lose the weight, along with the first 2 blog stories, my new business cards, and my before and after pictures. She was really happy for me and said that she would give it to them.

We all went into the studio to get our seats, and the amazing day continued to unfold, as we were seated in the second and third rows, and I was on the end seat of the second row. The studio was beautiful, and everyone working there were so nice. The warm-up guy who takes care of the audience was fabulous! A great comedian. While we waited, another person came up to me and asked more about my story and weight loss, and then she said that they have never seen a shirt like mine, and they wanted to keep it and possibly have me back on the show. They are looking to ask some people who have been successful in the challenge to come on and share. I asked if maybe I could meet Dr. Oz and have him check the “met Dr. Oz” box, but she said that they really wanted to wait and do it when I possibly came back. I had told her already that this was all so much bigger than me, and I trusted her and would do anything that they wanted. She left, and I sat there thanking God for the opportunity of talking to everyone so far, and just asked Him to take all that I had given them…the shirt and packet, and place it in the right hands, and let His will be done. I was a little sad that I wouldn’t be meeting Dr. Oz today, but trusted that I someday would.

The show was so much fun! Great information, a wonderful interview with Kristen Johnston, and Dr. Oz was even more spectacular in person! After the last segment, we were told that it was time for last applause and then Dr. Oz would be leaving. During our standing ovation, Dr. Oz came over and shook hands with the row in front of us, then he came up 2 steps and shook my hand. As he looked me in the eyes and shook my hand, I smiled and said, “I’m in your million dollar challenge, and I believe I’m going to win the entire thing.” He smiled, said something that I didn’t hear,  and kept going to shake a few more hands before leaving. I thought at that point, maybe when I am standing next to him on May 23rd, he will remember me from that moment. Not sure, but was hoping.

A few minutes later, they announced that we were all to leave the studio area. It was over. I stood there for a moment, looked around and just thanked the Lord, again, for an amazing day, and thanked Him for the gift of all that had happened. As we turned to make our way up the stairs, I heard someone call out my name. I turned around, and someone from the show asked if I had a few moments. I was stunned a bit, and walked down the stairs. The girls I was with went downstairs to see if they could get a table for lunch.

As I reached the floor of the studio, I was introduced to a publicist of the show and his assistant or partner. They started to ask me all kinds of questions about my weight loss, my background, my story, etc. They were soooo kind and so nice, and I was so excited to share so many of the “God-incidences” of this journey. It was a bit surreal standing on the set of Dr. Oz, telling some of my story to important people from the show. They made me feel so comfortable. We talked for a while, and then they took me over to see Dr. Oz, who had just finished taking some pictures with a few people. As I type these words at this very moment…my hands are sweating and I have chills just thinking about the next moments..

They walked me over to Dr. Oz, and as I shook his hand, I said, “Hi Dr. Oz, my name is Wendy Trunz. I am in your Million Dollar Transformation Nation Challenge, and I honestly and truly believe that I will win the entire challenge.”  He said, “Oh, you’re the one who told me that, over there.” …We continued to talk for a bit, I told him some of my story. I explained how Olivia had won the Biggest Loser and met with me and said that she believed in me, and taught me so much about what she learned.  I told him about watching Ben (her husband), as our worship director get thinner and thinner before our eyes. I told him that I never could have imagined during this journey, that I, as an overweight woman, could inspire others even now, before losing all the weight and being at goal. It was so surreal as I stood there, on the Dr. Oz set, in front of Dr. Oz….He was the kindest, sweetest man…he looked in my eyes and listened to every word I shared. I felt like I was the only one in that room with him, and that he had all the time in the world for me. Yes, everyone….DREAMS DO COME TRUE! ….We talked a bit more, he shared that his friend, Rick Warren (author of The Purpose Driven Life, which I have read) had recently lost so much weight On the Daniel Diet, and that so many churches were joining in. I was able to share with him that many people in our church had decided to do that for Lent, and I shared with him that that was how Ben lost most of his weight while Olivia was gone. I also said that I wasn’t sure if he saw the shirt that I brought there, but I explained what the last 2 boxes said, and I told him that I would be back with my hot pink marker to check the box, “met Dr. Oz”, and then I told him that I truly believe that I will be standing next to him on the 23rd when he checks the last box, “won the challenge”. His eyes never left mine as I was talking, and at one point he said, “do you see it in her eyes, she really believes that she is going to win the whole thing. And I believe she can.” That was an incredible moment! He could see it in my eyes, Wow!

After a few more stories, their photographer, with a huge lens, took a bunch of pictures of Dr. Oz and I together. He put his arm around me, and as I smiled and the camera clicked away, I just could not believe that moment was happening. I wanted someone to pinch me. After that, Dr. Oz, held my hand as he asked if everyone around me had everything they needed from me,( by the way, he has THE softest hands I have ever felt!)… and then he said that he was sorry, but had to get to a luncheon appointment. I thanked him….and he said as he walked away, “I’m sure that I will see you again.” and I said that I knew he would, and I said that I would definitely see him on the 23rd.

He smiled and walked away, and there I was, still standing on the set, smiling and in awe of what just happened. The two publicists walked me out of the studio, into the elevator, and down a long hallway toward the restaurant where I would meet the girls I came with. We continued to talk and walk, and then he gave me his card, and told me that they would email me the pictures that were taken. He also said that he knew I had the blog, and he gave me permission to put the pictures up on my blog when I get them.

Many times you hear people talk about the kindness of strangers, and the impact that has on people. At one point, in the studio, the publicist asked me how I actually got to come to the show today. It was great to be able to share that ultimate “God-incidence”, because I was there today, with 15 girls who I never knew before. I met a few of them at the front desk of a gym that I was originally afraid to walk into. By walking over to them and encouraging them to join…here we are today…I am standing on the actual set of the Dr. Oz show, sharing my journey so far. And again, every single “stranger” that I met and talked to from the staff that day, were the kindest people, who asked me great questions, and were really interested in hearing my story, and really congratulated me on the weight loss so far. I have never met them, I’m sure that everyone is always wanting to talk with all of them, and again, each one of them spent so much time with me and really made me feel special today. I gave out my cards to some of them, and I hope that they read this story, mainly to just hear how thankful I am, and how special they made me feel. I know that I am in this million dollar challenge, and I truly believe in my heart that I can be the one standing next to Dr. Oz, once again, on May 23rd. I also believe that this whole journey is much bigger, and is even more than winning this challenge… But today, March 7h, Dr. Oz, and every one of his staff, and the girls who shared this day with me….made me feel like a million bucks!  What an incredible day…..it’s one of those days that dreams are made of….and yes…Dreams do come true…BELIEVE!!

My business
cards, and
the holder
Winnie
blessed me
with….