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| Me a Few Weeks Into Challenge |
Sitting here listening to John Lennon's "Stand by Me" as I reflect back on the last 90 days, my own participation in the Isagenix Isa Body Challenge...sad that the 90 days are over gone away far to fast, yet thrilled at the new man I see standing in front of me when I look in the mirror. It has truly been a life changing event for me, one filled with a certain amount of fear, but also a great deal of pride at where I have come.
Will take my measurements and weight myself at the end of the 9 Day Cleanse for Life I am in the midst of and weigh myself, so the final statistics are not in, but one but has to look at me to see the difference. I've shrunk, but in a very good way, my once noticeable Budda Belly all but gone, the new smaller 36" waist pants bought at the 60 day mile marker already too big for me. I still wear a large shirt, but they are hanging a bit on me, the sleeve seams no longer fitting tight on the shoulder blades.
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| Taken Around Halloween |
I would be lying if I said this has been easy, though parts of it were, days, sometimes weeks breezing by without a problem, then BOOM, a brick wall that I would run smack dab into.
Thanksgiving was one of those times...I love cooking/baking, being in the kitchen, and have traditions that go back decades. Pumpkin and Pecan pie, homemade of course. Deviled eggs, sour cream mashed potatoes with giblet gravy, stuffing just like my Mom used to make, a large turkey because the table just doesn't feel right with a small one in the center of the table, olives of various variety, fresh green beans with almond slivers sprinkled over the top. I was good (good being relative), had just one plate of food, and not overloaded. Yet, a part of me wanted to FEAST. I waited, had desert later in the evening and was so tempted the next morning to have a slice or two of pie with my morning coffee, but resisted the urge, having my IsaLean shake instead.
Stay FOCUSED on the goal, keep your eye on the prize.
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| A December Pic...Changing |
Came into December weighing 175...met my goal for November but just barely. That was one of those down times. Holidays are hard, and December in some ways is one big month of Holidays, and with my Mom gone, I long ago decided I would carry on her traditions...miss her a whole lot sometimes even though she has been gone since 1993...WOW...20 years as of this May 3rd, 2013.
Tradition is important. Spent 3 days baking dozens upon dozens of cookies and Mom's Christmas Morning coffee cake...I love her coffee cake, and in the past would DEVOUR IT...here it is January, gave three fourths of it away, have had a few small pieces, but there is still some left in the freezer. Times change.
By the time December 26th rolled around, was really not sure I could make my own goal of hitting 170 pounds by December 31st. I stuck to the program...mostly...but everywhere I went there were all my favorite treats. I love Christmas ham...brown sugar glazed, pineapples and maraschino cherries candied in the baking ever so tempting, plates of cookies and cakes, and memories of Mom smiling as I went back for a second plate, or found my way into the kitchen after midnight to make myself up a plate of leftovers because everything was just so good. Couple all this with the fact that I love food, and am guilty at times of finding comfort in food, and the holidays were a rough time.
Six days to reach my goal of 170, and I had actually GAINED one pound from the beginning of December! Spent most of that day and the next letting self doubt creep in, started listening to those voices we need to avoid, but often don't...luckily, I'd also decided to do a two day cleanse on the 26th and 27th, and stuck to it. On the morning of the 28th after two days on Cleanse for Life I got on the scale...173 POUNDS...I can do this, 170 is reachable, I got four days!
Motivation is a great thing!
I got on my stationary bike, cranked up my consumption of water, and religiously followed the program as I worked hard on being a product of the product, my coach's (Andrea Hameed) words burned into my mind...Chocolate or Vanilla.
In a perfect story, I would have met my goal, but fact is when I woke up on January 1, 2013 I was just shy of where I had wanted to be weighing 171 pounds. The old me would have played the FAILURE card on myself...but, as I said, these 90 days have started to change me into who I have always been meant to be. I went out to the kitchen, had my Isalean shake and got on with my day knowing it would only be a day or two and I would for the first time since the 1980's find myself getting on the scale and weighing under 170 pounds!
Certain things stick in my head, make me smile. I bought two new belts when I went shopping, both of them 36 inch. One of them has six holes in it...I was in the second one when I put it on the first time. Last week I put the belt on, and it is in the sixth hole (inside hole), the belt now too BIG FOR ME! That same morning I took out an old favorite denim shirt that I had bought back in 1998 at the Gap store in Plattsburgh NY. Had not worn the shirt since 2004...NINE YEARS. It fits, and very comfortably I might add.
NYKO 2013 is, too a great deal, over with as I write this...sure, it goes on through tomorrow, but most of this late night and tomorrow is all about goodbyes for those who were lucky enough to attend. I sit here tonight a bit sad and melancholy as my personal 90 Day Challenge comes to an end. Through the tears, the laughing the victories, it has been ONE HELL OF A GREAT TIME for me. I know my journey to a new me is not over, that more victories lay ahead...but, I am sad that these very special 90 days are over, sad at having to say Goodbye to a challenge that has shown me there is a beautiful, wonderful person who has always been inside of me who is starting too emerge. But even in my melancholy I am Thankful, and know that at the end of the 90 Day Challenge I am walking into my future a winner.
Some Special Thank You's on This Special Night
First, Andrea Hameed who introduced me to Isagenix...her own story, her testimonial touched me, woke me up, and sparked something inside of me that made me say yes to Isagenix and the 90 Day Challenge.
The incredible and supportive friends on Facebook in the Isagenix community, far too many for this man who is not used to having friends can mention, but want to call out a few anyway.
Elisabeth Anderson, Candace Tweady Woods, Kelly LeBlanc, Sheila Marie Jackson, Monica Cicere Ludwig, Angela Taylor-Shatzer, Joanne Spark, Lily Van Loo, Heather Wood Johnson, Kathy Doss Rhoden, Kathy Ong, Jen Battilora, Jo-Ann DiLorenzo, Deanna Dante Bello, Casey Karen James, Randy J Dunbar, Tanya Becks, Gregory Valiquette and everyone else who has helped me along the way, given advice, picked me up when I had fallen down. You folks are ALL GREAT, and I love being a part of the Isagenix family.
Not a part of Isagenix? Would you like to be? Give me a call at (845) 693-4513, text me at (845) 346-6523 or email me at isagenixguru@gmail.com and let me walk with you as you start your own journey to the beautiful you that has always been inside waiting to come out.
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