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

2. Photo from application / Photo from today, wearing the same dress

3. Application photo / After drinking my bottle of TY KU sake (I was feeling very sexy afterward)

4. Initial weigh-in photo (02/07/2014) / Transformation Tuesday (03/18/2014)

5. First weigh-in / Second weigh-in (same shirt)

Thanks for the journey Genghis Grill!!!

Sake It To Me...

Today's social media task for Genghis Grill Health Kwest is to write about why sake is healthier than some other alcoholic beverages. I will have to admit...I used to drink a lot of sake, but then again, I used to drink a lot of everything at that time in my life. As a matter of fact, I believe that the last time I drank sake I was buying it by the "teapot", and sharing it with everybody at the sushi bar. I was tore up, but then again, I also drank a bunch at happy hour before going out for sushi. Those were the days, but fortunately for me, those days are long gone.

Ok, I digress....So I never really thought of sake being healthy. I know from working as a bartender of craft beers for almost a decade that sake is a rice wine, that is actually brewed and fermented more closely to beer than wine. Yeah, that's right! It's basically rice BEER instead of wine. The yeast converts the sugars in the rice into alcohol during the fermentation process, just as yeast converts barley malt into alcohol. But I guess calling it a rice beer doesn't sound nearly as classy, or maybe it makes people think of cheap beer, as the big 3 domestics primarily use rice because it is cheap and mass produced.

Again, I digress....I suppose to be writing about what health benefits have been linked to drinking sake. Here is what I have found from the research provided by several internet sources:

* In countries that consume sake, such as Japan, less cases of liver failure, liver cancer, and cirrhosis have been documented.

* Just as other alcoholic beverages, sake helps to relieve stress and promote social facilitation.

* Drinking sake helps to increase good cholesterol, which helps to carry away the bad cholesterols back to the liver to be excreted, and it helps to reduce plaques and blockages in the arteries.

* Sake consumption (in moderation) helps with circulation of the blood and helps to expand blood vessels.

* Drinking sake is easier on your stomach and digestive system than other liquors, such as whiskey.

* Sake can help reduce the risk of strokes by increasing blood flow in the brain.

All this time, and I thought it was just a good compliment to sushi. I would like to give a shout-out to TY KU for gifting me a little bottle of sake for my participation in Genghis Grill Health Kwest.

And I had a long day at work.....

Lori