Mission Accomplished!

Whew! I did it!! I made it through 12 weeks of intense weight loss! It really has been challenging, emotional, frustrating, amazing, all-consuming and just a crazy experience!

Sunday night that all came to an end. Our final weigh-in was at 7:00...at night! It was a really hard day as I usually gain 2-3 pounds by the end of the day. Over the past 2 weeks, we stopped getting the email updates so I had no specifics on how the other contestants were doing, and how close or far away anyone was to gaining on me. (Or losing I guess!;0)) I did find out right before the end that I had finally taken first place after being in second for weeks. I was SO excited but figured that I must still be pretty close to the other contestant based on prior numbers. That last week I was quickly approaching my goal weight as well, so the scale was not being kind to me...what a week for that! I ate as well as I could, worked out and continued to kep track of everything I ate. I had a feeling it wouldn't be enough but gave it my all anyway. I knew it would be better to completely know I had given everything I had, every step of the way.

On the night of the final weigh-in, there were only about 5 woman that showed up out of the original 44. The woman I was in direct competition with weighed-in before me...and lost 10 pounds! My heart sunk. I couldn't believe it! Hard to know in that moment that I had lost it...and be in a room full of people when you want to cry for a minute. I was able to recover quickly, there are just a lot of emotions that go into this intense of a competition. When you literally put your whole life into it for so long.

I did end up with a solid second place with a percentage of 17.8% of my body weight lost!! That really is an awesome accomplishment! First place was 19.9% and third, 13.1%. My total pounds lost in the 12 weeks was 33!!! =0) And I am not looking to find any of them!

I am so happy that I did this, even with all of the emotional ups and downs. I set out to lose weight and accomplished all of my goals! I lost 13 more pounds than I had hoped to, and I never gained during the entire 12 weeks! (Even with a trip to the mountains and Vegas!) That I am proud of. I feel healthier. It has reset my outlook on food. I am highly aware of how many calories and fat are in everything. I again know how to make better choices when eating out, and to pay close attention to my "full meter".

This leads me to the work it's going to take to maintain. I am taking the week off from writing things down and then I plan to pick that up again. I want to find that "sweet spot" I need to maintain.

Thank you to those that have been such an encouragement to me! My husband has been great and so have my boys! My mom and Crystal, you have been so awesome as well, always full of praise and kind words! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

So to sum it up, I am SO glad this is over with, I'm very happy with my results and I'm pleased I set out to do something...and did it well! =0)

(P.S. I finally have pictures to add but for some reason blogger is looking really weird and there is no spell check or link to add photos... ideas anyone??)