May 25th 2013
One year ago I finished a six month challenge with myself and 127 friends and family to motivate myself to live a healthier life. I changed the ways I shopped for food, cooked food, ordered food, and the ways I thought about activities, participated in activities and engaged myself in an active lifestyle. In those six months, I lost 85 pounds and felt blessed to have the support of so many people. The 127 people that "sponsored" my weight-loss were not the only ones that made this possible.
Friends and family that were not in a position to give money offered emotional support, encouragement and offers of walks, hikes, recipes and the so appreciated compliments on how good I was looking. Then one of the most generous people I know stepped up and said, I think we need to make sure this lifestyle change sticks. Adam Eaton, a friend since we met when I was at Linfield and rooming with his cousin and his high school buddy, said this to me:
"What you are doing is great. The cause for cancer is great. The thing that is more important to me, is you. Your longevity is more important than the money you raise by losing weight. Being healthy, and living longer is worth more than anything I could donate to your weight loss."
"So I propose this, to make sure that this life-change is not done after the 6 months, after your final weigh-in, and all the money is raised, if you can keep the weight off, or lose more for a full year, I will match everything you raised next year."
Yesterday, I weighed in to see if I met his challenge. I was nervous, and here is why. This has been one of the most challenging years of my life. Teaching has been challenging with my group of kids this year. I was part of starting two new programs at school this year. I am again, the Event Chair for Relay For Life of Northshore. And for those of you that are not aware, I found love! I am absolutely head-over-heels in love with Kirsten Kenyon! We have been dating since December and I want to spend every minute of everyday with her...
Kirsten is noticing that most of my weekday time is at school. I have averaged 11.5 hours at school every work day this year. She is also notices that every weekend morning I have Relay meetings with people from my committee or in the community. Then week day evenings are often used for speaking engagements. I have been speaking at many Relay events across Western Washington this year, and also for schools. Last week I was the Keynote Speaker at the high school's Honors Society Induction. What little time we have together is cherished. But the stress and busyness has made living healthy even more challenging.
During football season, I tailgate at Husky Games. I watched my weight grow a couple pounds a month during the fall, and then a couple more in the winter holiday season. I asked Kirsten to help me stay focussed on being healthy through the Spring. I did not want to do anything drastic to make sure I was at the 85 pounds mark by May 25th. That's not fair to Adam and his generosity. So we started going for more walks, ordering more salads, and tracking my food more diligently. All of the small things that make a big difference.
I weighed in yesterday and was down 86 pounds since I started this journey. I feel like this was a lifestyle change and not a lose it quick scheme. I have good days and bad days. I have good weeks and bad weeks. But as long as I maintain an active lifestyle with healthy shopping and eating, I can maintain my weight-loss and hopefully start losing more at a healthy pace.
I know this challenge was set by Adam Eaton, but I wanted to offer it up to all of you. If you feel so inclined, Adam is matching the $15,000 that I raised last year, and if you want to match what you donated last year because I kept the weight off. Or if you want to donate half of, or a portion of what you donated last year. My fundraising goal is $25,000 and I am sitting at $5500. Use the link below and let's create a world with More Birthdays and Less Cancer!
Thank you all for all the love and support!
Click here to donate.
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