This week I was asked to be a writer on the sharecare.com website…..
Went spinning with my daughter, Grace…and finally broke through to an amazing number with a weight loss!

This past week I joined the Sharecare.com website as one of their writers. I received a phone call, followed by some emails asking me if I would consider being a writer for the website in order to keep the Dr. Oz Transformation Nation movement going, helping to inspire others by sharing what has worked for all of us. I was really excited when I was offered the opportunity, and what was even more amazing, was that as the woman spoke to me, there was a point where she said, “we are looking for the top 20 finalists to share their experiences and expertise..” I stopped her after a few more sentences and said, “can I ask you a question? Was in in the final 20?” …and she proceeded to say, “yes”, and told me that my name was in front of her on a spread sheet with all of my information. That was an amazing moment, because, after being narrowed down from 1.2 million people to making the top 200 finalists, after that, as we all went through the process, doing the psychological evaluations, sending in more and more information, having phone interviews….no one would ever tell us how far we had made it. So even after the finale, we were never told how far we made it. So it is really pretty spectacular to know, now, for sure, that I was in the top 20…Wow!

The first time I sat down and went to sharecare.com I couldn’t believe my eyes! Up came MY PICTURE and a profile and a recipe that I had written and sent them. I AM ON THE SHARECARE WEBSITE!!!….as a writer!!!! I went into the website a few times, just to bring it up and look at it! Then, I was give a special log in code to use in order to answer questions on the website. I took the opportunity to write to Michael Lamb, the winner of challenge, and tell him how special it was to sit next to is wife at the finale. In the meantime, I have also gone up and answered questions on the website. You will have to check it out and “friend me” so that I have a following. They want us to have as many friends as we can go on it and check it out.

(Go to http://www.sharecare.com Then you will see “Look who’s losing?”, under that is says They did it, you can too. Click on that. Then click the blue arrow until you see my picture. Pretty crazy, huh?) or copy and paste this…
http://www.sharecare.com/static/success-stories-center

The next “surreal moment” of the past week….My daughter, Grace, came to my spin class. She was really excited to try it, and I was so excited to have her come to the gym with me. We walked into the gym, and everyone was so happy to meet her. We went into the room, set up our bikes, and when my instructor came in, she was so excited to have her join us. Since it was her first time, I was telling Grace in the car how in my very first class, I was only able to just move my legs and keep pedaling along with the instructor, trying to keep up the pace with her. I remember 10 minutes into it wondering if I would truly be able to pedal for a full hour without stopping. I couldn’t stand or jump or do any of the things the other people in the class were doing. It was one of the most overwhelming first classes I had ever taken at that time, and I cried at the end of it, just happy that I could complete it without stopping or quitting and leaving.

Since then, I have trained for, and conquered, my first race day. I have even taken other spin classes with other instructors, and I can keep up with everyone and do everything the instructor tells us to do. And on this incredible morning, I was spinning side by side with my beautiful daughter, proud to be able to show her all that I have accomplished. She had amazing stamina, and did everything with us. At one point I was telling her that she could always sit if she got tired….and the instructor came over to me, and nicely told me to, “zip my lips”, and she said, “I’ve got her, I will take care of her. You continue to do all that you have learned…I’ve got her, trust me.” I just smiled and followed her instructions. A few times I looked at our reflections in the mirror, and just thanked God for this amazing moment in my life, where I was able to keep up with my 15 year old daughter in a spin class. I know if she continues to go with me for the summer, she will probably surpass my ability, but today I felt pretty amazing to be spinning side by side with her, knowing how far I had come since my first day.

This past week, I also vowed that it was going to be the week to bust through this weight loss wall that I hit for 3 weeks. I had been thinking these past few hard weeks I have had, about the time Olivia Ward hit her wall on The Biggest Loser. Her husband, Ben, inspired her during a video chat, and Jillian was telling her to keep doing everything right, and promised her that the weight would come off. Well, the other night, I checked in on Olivia’s blog http://www.myfitspiration.com ….and what an amazing “God incidence”, she chose to write about that very week.  I read it, and it was exactly what I need to hear. The words that really stuck out were the words Jillian said to her when she hit that wall and didn’t believe she could break through it…she said,

“You are doing everything right…you are eating on point & putting in the work in the gym. Trust your body…it’s science and it will let the weight go. Let me believe in you while you’re not strong enough to do it alone. When you are strong enough to believe in yourself again I’ll give it back to you.”

After reading her website, I wrote this to her…

Hey Olivia,
     For me, it’s one of those amazing “God incidences” that you wrote this at this time. I have been thinking about you and your story you shared regarding this week on the ranch, even thinking about that exact episode… even before you wrote it here, because as I have been taking care of my parents this past month (as my dad had a stroke Memorial Day weekend, and my mom is having trouble with her breathing and diabetes)…as I am going from the hospital to doctor appts with my mom, I haven’t been able to lose any weight and break through a number that I am stuck at the past 3 weeks. Last Sat. I just cried on the scale at WW. I am doing the work outs each day, but haven’t been able to track the food. With all the knowledge, nothing is going into my mouth that is not healthy, but I know I need to get back to prepping the really good food and writing it down. This week, I put the bodybugg back on and I’m trying to be accountable for it all…as you said, science doesn’t lie. I feel like the last 3 weeks have been a set back, but as I hit it hard and do everything right again, the scale has to move. Praying to break through another big number this week. Total weight loss so far…66 pounds! 60 more to go! Thanks for inspiring me tonight! Love, Wendy

When I checked back the next day, she wrote…

Hi Wendy!! Yes, God is good & His timing is perfect! I know you will have an awesome week…you are half way to your goal…how awesome is that??

How amazing is that? I’m praising God, because during these past tough weeks, I’ve had different people step out and believe in me. From my WW leader, to the people who weigh me in on the scale, to my husband, my family, my close friends, my instructors at the gym, and even the owner of the gym and Olivia Ward! (Just as Jillian had done for Olivia, all of these people are believing in me while I am not strong enough to do it alone.)

Then, I set out this week to try something new with WW. The leader had challenged us to mix it up a bit and just try the “simply filling core plan”. I was always afraid to try this, because you don’t weigh and measure. You eat all of the core power foods until you are full, and if you choose to eat a food that is not on that list, you have to count it (you have 49 points for the week). People in our group were saying that they were on it and losing weight consistently, the leader said someone in another group tried it and lost 7 pounds in one week…that is when I decided to take the challenge. I wanted a big number like that. (I know it was a man who did it, but my competitive side came out, and I wanted to beat that number.) So, I set out to try it for the week.

It was very strange for me not to put things on the scale or even write it down. I missed my Ezekiel toast in the morning, so I took it for the extra points for a few days. I also missed my Aloha WW bar, so I counted that for 2 days. But I really was afraid to use too many extra points.

I went to the gym every day, and my children went away on a youth retreat for a few days, so I did some extra exercising for 2 of the days. On Friday, I called my friend who is also in the ww group, and I reminded her that it was Friday, the day before weigh in, so, as our leader always says, “on Friday, my body is a temple”. Each time I called her, I would say, “temple one to temple two, how are you doing? Are you staying on target?” It was a great reminder not to wreck it all before weighing in in the morning.
On Saturday morning, I was excited, yet a bit scared, to see the results. I couldn’t take another let down on the scale. But I knew in my heart that I worked extra hard, and really ate the power foods, but wondered if I had eaten too much…

I stripped off the jewelry and glasses, took a breath and watched the woman’s face weighing me in. She said, “hold still, I need to really get this number”. I thought, oh no, it must only be ounces, then. She took out the calculator and said, “holy cow, this is a really big weight loss”. I said, “then I broke through the next number?”, and she said, “you lost 5.4 pounds!” Then I realized, that means I just hit 70.4 pounds!!!! I hit the 70 mark…wow!!!

I was sooo excited. I couldn’t believe it, but as Jillian told Olivia, the science works. You have to believe in it. I never would have thought that the core program, simply filling could work for me, but it did. That was absolutely amazing to me.

I’m so happy that I was able to take a few hours to sit down and write all of this so that I don’t forget the amazing things still happening on this journey.

Yesterday, after the weigh in, I went out on the island to celebrate an 80th birthday for a wonderful woman in my life. I was going to see people I haven’t seen in years. Some hadn’t seen me for 5, 10, 20, and even 30 years. It was really exciting to see reactions and also be able to share with others all that I have learned. What a gift it is to be excited walking into a party, happy with what you have on and how you look. I haven’t experienced that for over 20 years.The greatest part was inspiring people who just needed to be inspired, and to share some of what has really worked for me.

This morning’s sermon at church was based on the fact that God and one person can do anything!! The pastor challenged us to think big..he asked,” what are your dreams? Step out in faith and see what you can do in God’s will…I continue to pray that this blog and journal will one day be made into a book and it will be a best seller and inspire others to be able to transform their lives as well. We’ll see….I still believe!!