Lost 71.4kg and 198cm.
‘I’ll enjoy this victory for the rest of my life’
Hi Jodi and your amazing Healthy Inspiration team,
As May approaches it is always a special time to reflect on that knockout decision to join the program in 2006. I am so thankful for the influence you’ve brought into my life.
I use this time each year to revisit health goals, which are now about tone and more tone as I continue to enjoy an active life. A friend asked me the other day if I have a ‘spare tyre’ belly when I sit down. My mind cast back to first losing all the weight. I had a huge flap of loose skin sagging from my belly – a skirt of flagging skin that draped about 10cms down my legs. I remember asking if it was ever going to be possible to firm up and pull it in without surgery. I have discovered that it is possible! I am now naturally attracted to all kinds of core strength opportunities – seeking out the soft sand at the beach and running the bumpy tracks on purpose for pulling in tummy and letting those back supporting ab muscles wrap me round from deep inside!
I have a love of fresh life-giving food and even though I don’t use the official diary anymore, I keep an informal notebook, which is effectively a daily food plan. It doesn’t portion or measure, but it does affirm that fresh, raw, living plant matter is big on my agenda.
Every year as I reflect, I am deeply impressed by the goal setting and visualizing skills I gained while in the program. It’s where the real value of doing the whole program is for me. Those skills continue to be used to create momentum and design achievable change applied across the whole of my life. The benefits reach way beyond physical health, though the physiological gains are still racking up too.
Last month I undertook a Class 1 Medical Examination as part of an interest in aviation. The healthy 23.5 BMI achieved in the Healthy Inspirations program, from a starting point of 48.5, holds true today – seven years on! I also discovered a resting pulse of 50bpm. The doctor confirmed it is not low bp, rather the beautiful result of a cardio active lifestyle. What a lovely affirmation from just enjoying active life!
This is also the time when I make a point to affirm the powerful achievement statement I activated in my daily diary: ‘I’ll enjoy this victory for the rest of my life’. I hope I’m still one of those poster girls on your gym wall because I am indeed enjoying the results of simple accumulating daily choices. Those small decisions have become the basis on which I now hang all kinds of other successes – nothing like a precedent to give a sense of momentum inside your head, which is where the real victory is treasured.
Every single empowered day,
Laurie
April 20th, 2013
Achievements: LOST = 71kg, 198 cm’s, 31.6% of Body Fat, from size 24 to size 10 in 14 months. BMI (Body Mass Index) from 48.5 – Extreme Health Risk Range to 23.5 – Healthy Range – Low Health Risk.