Living La Vida Lori: All Good Things Must Come to an End...

The title of this blog is actually a bit misleading. "All good things must come to an end" is more a reference to the end of my participation in Genghis Grill Health Kwest, rather an end to all "good things". The good things that I have changed about myself throughout Health Kwest will never come to an end. However, today is the final day of the competition and my last social media task for Health Kwest.

I wrote a blog a while back explaining a lot of the physical and emotional things that I have felt throughout this 60 day journey. I don't wish to repeat myself, because I already put it all out there, but I will recap some of the major changes that have occurred and how I feel now that Health Kwest is ending.

After a very rough year in 2013, and being prescribed several different medications for a variety of reasons, I gained a tremendous amount of weight. In January of this year, I knew things had to change immediately. I will never forget the feeling of disgust and shame as I stepped onto a scale at one of my elementary schools, and read "200.6". How could this have happened? As someone who has always been thin and athletic, and someone who has recovered from Anorexia Nervosa, this day was devastating, and I will never forget it.

I go into detail about my physical changes in my blog titled "How Do I Feel Today?", but I'll summarize some things that I have either overcome or accomplished.

I no longer take daily acid reflux medication or antacids.
I cut out gluten entirely from my diet, and have come to the conclusion that I am gluten intolerant. Would not have tried that had it not been for Health Kwest.
After giving up gluten, I no longer have digestion issues.
I no longer take a daily (or twice daily) steroid inhaler for my asthma (adult-onset).
I rarely use my rescue inhaler.
I can exercise for over an hour without fatiguing.
I have more energy throughout the day.
I gave up artificial sweeteners.
I used to have severe migraines. Those went away when I gave up diet coke.
I used to be completely sedentary. Now I exercise daily.

All of these things listed above are wonderful benefits of my new lifestyle, which promotes healthy eating and daily exercise, but this contest primarily focuses on weight loss. I will say that I am a little disappointed in myself, as I thought the scales would go down a little farther than they did. However, when you look at weight loss from what is recommended by medical professionals, I lost weight in a way that was healthy and will not cause any long-term harmful effects to my body.

And here it is...

1st Weigh-in: 196 lbs - 02/07/2014

2nd Weigh-in: 180 lbs - 03/12/2014

3rd Weigh-in: 173 lbs - 04/11/2014

So, I lost a total of 23 lbs since February. Not too bad for 2 months. I don't really feel that I look like I'm that heavy, but I know that I've always weighed more than I looked. I remember my first weigh-in at the doctor when I was 2 months pregnant with Elias, and I weighed 153 lbs - but I also wore a size 5 jeans. The technician at EMSI said that everyone carries their weight differently and that is nothing of which I should ever be ashamed. My goal in this journey originally was to lose at least the weight that I gained last year, which was 37 lbs and to be able to wear the size 6 jeans I bought last year for my birthday. As you can see, I did not meet my personal weight goal, BUT I can wear my jeans again! Woohoo! Plus, I feel better than I have felt in many years, and it's only going to get better as I maintain this lifestyle and get healthier and stronger.

On Facebook this morning, I left a word of inspiration to my fellow khantestants as I bid them adieu in this journey. I would like to end this blog with a quote from that post.

"This experience has been life-changing to so many, and I know for me personally, the end of Health Kwest is only the beginning of a healthier and happier me. Although I am not walking away the grand prize winner, I am still walking away a winner, and I want every single one of you to keep that in mind through Wednesday. Never be discouraged about your efforts here; what we did during these 60 days has been amazing. You know that scene in Titanic where the ship is sinking, but the musicians keep playing on? That's a crazy analogy, but that's what I feel is happening today. The boat is sinking (Health Kwest is coming to an end), but I'm not going to stop playing."

And I now I will leave you with those much-anticipated before-and-after photos:

1. Photo submitted with Health Kwest application / Photo taken before my final weigh in today