This girls 109lb weight loss journey....
This is me sharing my weight loss journey with the world. Hello world!
Sunday, December 4, 2011
This is my now! Well it's been awhile since I have written but happy to say I am back! So much has happened I lost a total of 109lbs and became this years Beachbody million dollar body game winner taking home $25,000 thanks to everyones votes!! Now I am ready to get real and give back. I have learned that when you hit the goal the journey doesn't stop and you have to find a way to live your life in health. I am a food addict and whatever the scale says that does not change! I have decided to reach for a new goal competing in a triathlon! I will be racing in my first triathlon on march 3rd and I need your support! I am utilizing my journey to help others and raising money for Louie's Kids a non-profit that helps fight childhood obesity one child at a time. Keep checking back here for training updates and more on this phenomenal organization! A donate button is coming very soon!!!!
Monday, January 3, 2011
Happy New Year & Happy New ME!
Well it's 2011, can you believe it?!
After the Turkey Trot I was invigorated and excited to end the year on a positive note and focus in on my weight loss goal. My Beachbody business was really taking offer and I was mentoring others on starting a new healthy lifestyle and reaching their physical and financial goals. And just like it always does life got in my way. My husband got a terrible phone call that sent us immediately on a flight home to Boston. Stress CITY!!! I was completely unprepared, I was away from my workout routine, my food and my support system. I also was dealing quite a bit of stress.... so much so that I actually developed shingles. At this point I just had to trust that the foundation I had built over the last year would see me through. I got to the GYM as often as I could and frequented Whole Foods multiple times per day. I used the opportunity of being home with people I hadn't since since I weighed about 240 to share my story and bear witness to the incredible possibilities your life can have if you just believe.
I am celebrating but I am also reminding myself that the journey doesn't end here. I truly feel blessed like I have been given a gift. Did I work hard for it?? You betcha, but I had a whole lot of help and the only way to stay accountable and keep this amazing feeling of accomplishment is to pay it forward. So though I am leaving behind the last 100lbs and never going that direction again I am setting out on a new road. "Two roads diverged in a wood and I took the one less traveled" I am teaching my own friday night TURBO class that starts this week, I am giving everything I got to my beachbody business and I am going to continue on this road because I know there is farther that I can go. If you have been reading you know I started out like so many others morbidly obese, unhappy, lost and alone. I know first hand how hard it is to make life changes but I am here to tell you once and for all you can and I can help you...... just ask!
After the Turkey Trot I was invigorated and excited to end the year on a positive note and focus in on my weight loss goal. My Beachbody business was really taking offer and I was mentoring others on starting a new healthy lifestyle and reaching their physical and financial goals. And just like it always does life got in my way. My husband got a terrible phone call that sent us immediately on a flight home to Boston. Stress CITY!!! I was completely unprepared, I was away from my workout routine, my food and my support system. I also was dealing quite a bit of stress.... so much so that I actually developed shingles. At this point I just had to trust that the foundation I had built over the last year would see me through. I got to the GYM as often as I could and frequented Whole Foods multiple times per day. I used the opportunity of being home with people I hadn't since since I weighed about 240 to share my story and bear witness to the incredible possibilities your life can have if you just believe.
I got through it and headed home to retail craziness and poured myself into work. Long hours and candy everywhere. Honestly people asked me when I first started my journey why I started in December instead of waiting until after the holiday and I think it was easier last year. You see when I first set out I was very rigid and knew I had to make a life change all bad stuff was completely off limits.... this year understanding what I have learned about calories in vs out I knew I could and would work off the candy or treat and was a bit more relaxed. This for me is not always a good thing, I need my weighed and measured meals and little baggies of snacks to stay on track. while I did not gain a plateau was slowly taking hold and the losses were slow! I refocused and told my coach Alli that holiday season or not I am finishing what I started!!! We had an awesome week of Holiday themed workouts where we all got to wear special outfits!!
Adam and I also decided we would make this the best Christmas ever. We started decorating the house and preparing for our first annual "Christmas with the Kehoe's" We really had an amazing holiday, we got up early and opened a few things for Kramer and Lola and exchanged stockings then we got busy preparing a healthy breakfast for our closest friends who were on their way to celebrate with us! I was especially excited to give Winnie and Alli their presents, I made them coffee tumblers featuring photo collages of us!!! We had such a nice day together and even had our very own Yankee Swap!
I kept my focus and worked hard, and as the new year approached and I was just one pound away I knew I had to pull out all the stops!! I was hitting the gym hard and pushing myself to DO MORE in every workout. Then on 1/1/2011 I pulled the scale out from under the bathroom sink. It was now or never everything I had worked for was coming down to this moment. My thoughts were racing: 'did I eat too late last night, enjoy a few too many new years cocktails, did I do enough, maybe I should have worn the TURBO gloves to work :)' I closed my eyes took a deep breath in and stepped on the cold white surface.... as the digital display blinked and then came to a stop I screamed "YES!" the dial read 137! I called Adam over to look because I couldn't believe it I had officially lost 100lbs! I had actually followed through and achieved something I dreamed about for years.
I am celebrating but I am also reminding myself that the journey doesn't end here. I truly feel blessed like I have been given a gift. Did I work hard for it?? You betcha, but I had a whole lot of help and the only way to stay accountable and keep this amazing feeling of accomplishment is to pay it forward. So though I am leaving behind the last 100lbs and never going that direction again I am setting out on a new road. "Two roads diverged in a wood and I took the one less traveled" I am teaching my own friday night TURBO class that starts this week, I am giving everything I got to my beachbody business and I am going to continue on this road because I know there is farther that I can go. If you have been reading you know I started out like so many others morbidly obese, unhappy, lost and alone. I know first hand how hard it is to make life changes but I am here to tell you once and for all you can and I can help you...... just ask!
Friday, November 26, 2010
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!
Happy Turkey Day!!
I hope you all enjoyed your holiday this year! I am so very thankful for the many blessings in my life and this holiday season I find myself overwhelmed with emotion. I am just so amazed at what can be accomplished when you commit to achieving your goals. I am officially living my "after"! this was me last Thanksgiving:
It is hard to believe that was 1 yr ago! I spent that Thanksgiving like so many before, consumed with food! My husband prepared a TURDUCKEN and man did I eat. Then after eating we rested and then ate again. That was my only thanksgiving tradition and I know it is the tradition of many others. This year I was feeling a bit lonesome thinking about how much I missed my family back in Boston and feeling very disconnected from the holiday season. My bestie Alli suggested I start a new tradition and find a Turkey Trot.... I initially had no idea what that was. I pulled out my droid and googled and found that there is a huge event in Downtown Orlando every Thanksgiving run by trackshack and benefitting seniors first. This was my opportunity to start a new tradition. I wrestled with some resentments the week leading up to the big day, I was filled with self doubt and was mentally sabotaging myself. The night before I was surfing facebook and I saw a post that Chalene Johnson had posted, I am paraphrasing here but the message was basically that "the mind leads and the body follows, getting up at 5 am to hit the gym is more about the mind then the body" It just struck me and I knew I was making a decision to get up that morning and running that 5K. I made a playlist for my phone and found my headphones and headed to bed!
Six am came quickly and I got up and had some cereal and a banana. Adam and Kramer came to cheer me on and we headed downtown. I headed to registration and I felt a little lonely this was truly gut check time. I almost felt bad when the volunteer behind the registration table ask if I was meeting anyone when I heard someone behind me! It was Jackie from TURBO, she works for news 13 and was covering the event. She took a quick pic of me with my race number and tweeted it out to the world. I knew this was a sign I was where I was supposed to be! I pinned on my first official race number!
As it got closer to race time I was amazed by how many runners there were. Track shack reported over 5,000 showed that morning!!
The gobble call rang out and the athletes prepared themselves. I thought the crowd would bother me but I was just excited! I started to think about how far my journey had taken over this past year and how very proud I was to be in the company of all these athletes and preparing to do something great for my body, health and mind.
If you had talked to that sad girl last Thanksgiving and told her she would be running a 5K at 8 am on thanksgiving morning she would have laughed in your face. Today this girl was just bursting with pride!
I put on my headphones and got in the zone with my tunes! Adam and Kramer found a spot by the finish line to wait and I got ready to run!!!
The first mile was easy, and when I reached the 2 marker I shouted out YES!! When I got to the water station I stopped to take a drink and then threw my cup down! It was so exciting my first water station!! I just kept running before I knew it I could see the banner at the finish and I started sprinting it out! I finished in 31 minutes, and I ran the whole time! I was so proud of myself, my legs felt like jelly but it felt great! I was sweaty and happy I was a runner and an athlete! I officially have the runners bug and I can't wait to find my next race! Alli always says finish what you started and I am choosing to live my life sprinting to the finish line. The journey never ends and as we grow and learn we find we can reach farther and farther. This Thanksgiving I am thankful to be me living this life right now with excitement for the future!
I hope you all enjoyed your holiday this year! I am so very thankful for the many blessings in my life and this holiday season I find myself overwhelmed with emotion. I am just so amazed at what can be accomplished when you commit to achieving your goals. I am officially living my "after"! this was me last Thanksgiving:
It is hard to believe that was 1 yr ago! I spent that Thanksgiving like so many before, consumed with food! My husband prepared a TURDUCKEN and man did I eat. Then after eating we rested and then ate again. That was my only thanksgiving tradition and I know it is the tradition of many others. This year I was feeling a bit lonesome thinking about how much I missed my family back in Boston and feeling very disconnected from the holiday season. My bestie Alli suggested I start a new tradition and find a Turkey Trot.... I initially had no idea what that was. I pulled out my droid and googled and found that there is a huge event in Downtown Orlando every Thanksgiving run by trackshack and benefitting seniors first. This was my opportunity to start a new tradition. I wrestled with some resentments the week leading up to the big day, I was filled with self doubt and was mentally sabotaging myself. The night before I was surfing facebook and I saw a post that Chalene Johnson had posted, I am paraphrasing here but the message was basically that "the mind leads and the body follows, getting up at 5 am to hit the gym is more about the mind then the body" It just struck me and I knew I was making a decision to get up that morning and running that 5K. I made a playlist for my phone and found my headphones and headed to bed!
Six am came quickly and I got up and had some cereal and a banana. Adam and Kramer came to cheer me on and we headed downtown. I headed to registration and I felt a little lonely this was truly gut check time. I almost felt bad when the volunteer behind the registration table ask if I was meeting anyone when I heard someone behind me! It was Jackie from TURBO, she works for news 13 and was covering the event. She took a quick pic of me with my race number and tweeted it out to the world. I knew this was a sign I was where I was supposed to be! I pinned on my first official race number!
As it got closer to race time I was amazed by how many runners there were. Track shack reported over 5,000 showed that morning!!
The gobble call rang out and the athletes prepared themselves. I thought the crowd would bother me but I was just excited! I started to think about how far my journey had taken over this past year and how very proud I was to be in the company of all these athletes and preparing to do something great for my body, health and mind.
If you had talked to that sad girl last Thanksgiving and told her she would be running a 5K at 8 am on thanksgiving morning she would have laughed in your face. Today this girl was just bursting with pride!
I put on my headphones and got in the zone with my tunes! Adam and Kramer found a spot by the finish line to wait and I got ready to run!!!
The first mile was easy, and when I reached the 2 marker I shouted out YES!! When I got to the water station I stopped to take a drink and then threw my cup down! It was so exciting my first water station!! I just kept running before I knew it I could see the banner at the finish and I started sprinting it out! I finished in 31 minutes, and I ran the whole time! I was so proud of myself, my legs felt like jelly but it felt great! I was sweaty and happy I was a runner and an athlete! I officially have the runners bug and I can't wait to find my next race! Alli always says finish what you started and I am choosing to live my life sprinting to the finish line. The journey never ends and as we grow and learn we find we can reach farther and farther. This Thanksgiving I am thankful to be me living this life right now with excitement for the future!
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Living and loving my life!
Happy Halloween!!! This year has been so amazing I still can't believe this is my life. As you know I have had this 100lb goal in my sites for quite sometime and I am happy to report that I am quite close weighing in at 143 I am 94lbs down!!! I got to go to my first TURBOWEEN party which was so fun! We had a sports theme and seriously I missed my calling I need to be a cheerleader!!
This weekend my wonderful husband and my close friends threw me a celebratory bash to commemorate my accomplishments. I had decided to make it a costume party since it was so close to halloween and shopping for my costume was a new experience for me! I was able to go into the store and say what do I want to be not what do they have in PLUS size. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would be purchasing a size small costume but I did!! Here we are together in our SUPER costumes!!!
It was an amazing night. So many people came to celebrate with me! Not to mention the costumes were fantastic. We had healthy snacks and Alli provided an awesome playlist that kept us moving all night!
Once everyone got settled in we had the speeches. I had an opportunity to thank everyone there for being my village and helping me along this road to better health and happiness. When Alli spoke things turned a bit emotional and I learned an important lesson. You see we are as people inherently selfish, I had always thought that I was the only one gaining anything from my relationship with Alli and didn't realize just how important I have been to her this past year. Well as you can imagine there were happy tears!
When Adam gave his speech I was very emotional, and then came the big surprise!!! He had made a movie of my journey over the last ten months including video clips of my parents from home congratulating me. Well I couldn't hold back the emotion at that point!!!
On Saturday I hosted my first Beachbody home party and had the opportunity to share my story with others. It is so amazing to be on the other side because Beachbody was so instrumental in my success to be paying it forward is an amazing privilege.
To top it all off we decided to hit downtown Orlando for the Halloween festivities. I will leave you with the pictorial highlights of the nights mayhem but first a bit of reflection. I have been very emotional this week thinking about my party and wondering why I even deserved to have one. I still have goals I have not achieved and I am not yet bikini ready. But I have come to the realization that what I really am celebrating is finding myself. 94lbs ago while I was still loud and enthusiastic I was hiding. Hiding behind my size and my insecurity. Afraid to try and ashamed to want more than what I had. I didn't know who I was or what I wanted. How far could I go and if I could actually be successful. Now I am living the life I had only imagined. I have meaningful relationships with people and I am confident and self assured. I no longer wonder if I can do something it is only a question of when I will do it. While it is sometime surreal for me to hear people say I am their role model or inspiration I know that is is something to be very proud of. Since the journey is never over I will just say I am very excited to go down the next road and see what is in store for me. So now as promised the halloween highlights.
Winnie was a tennis player and Alli pulled out all the stops and yes I did Burpees in a skirt!! We also met Joey who joined us from Chicago and he fit right in with the crew!
This weekend my wonderful husband and my close friends threw me a celebratory bash to commemorate my accomplishments. I had decided to make it a costume party since it was so close to halloween and shopping for my costume was a new experience for me! I was able to go into the store and say what do I want to be not what do they have in PLUS size. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would be purchasing a size small costume but I did!! Here we are together in our SUPER costumes!!!
It was an amazing night. So many people came to celebrate with me! Not to mention the costumes were fantastic. We had healthy snacks and Alli provided an awesome playlist that kept us moving all night!
Once everyone got settled in we had the speeches. I had an opportunity to thank everyone there for being my village and helping me along this road to better health and happiness. When Alli spoke things turned a bit emotional and I learned an important lesson. You see we are as people inherently selfish, I had always thought that I was the only one gaining anything from my relationship with Alli and didn't realize just how important I have been to her this past year. Well as you can imagine there were happy tears!
When Adam gave his speech I was very emotional, and then came the big surprise!!! He had made a movie of my journey over the last ten months including video clips of my parents from home congratulating me. Well I couldn't hold back the emotion at that point!!!
On Saturday I hosted my first Beachbody home party and had the opportunity to share my story with others. It is so amazing to be on the other side because Beachbody was so instrumental in my success to be paying it forward is an amazing privilege.
To top it all off we decided to hit downtown Orlando for the Halloween festivities. I will leave you with the pictorial highlights of the nights mayhem but first a bit of reflection. I have been very emotional this week thinking about my party and wondering why I even deserved to have one. I still have goals I have not achieved and I am not yet bikini ready. But I have come to the realization that what I really am celebrating is finding myself. 94lbs ago while I was still loud and enthusiastic I was hiding. Hiding behind my size and my insecurity. Afraid to try and ashamed to want more than what I had. I didn't know who I was or what I wanted. How far could I go and if I could actually be successful. Now I am living the life I had only imagined. I have meaningful relationships with people and I am confident and self assured. I no longer wonder if I can do something it is only a question of when I will do it. While it is sometime surreal for me to hear people say I am their role model or inspiration I know that is is something to be very proud of. Since the journey is never over I will just say I am very excited to go down the next road and see what is in store for me. So now as promised the halloween highlights.
Monday, October 4, 2010
90lbs down!!!
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