just down the hall....

...is one of my biggest inspirations!


My coworker Amy has been on her life style change for a few years now! She started her journey in the second half of 2010, Which is just about a year before me. Her beginning weight was within a couple of pounds of my beginning weight, so when I first started my journey it was very motivating to see someone who was as overweight as I was, could do it.

Amy is a weight watchers fanatic!! She loyally tracked every single day and now runs her own weight watchers meetings!! Amy lost her weight by eating correctly, talking to people about what she was learning, and by becoming a runner.



The pictures in the left-hand column are from our end of year staff retreat in June 2010. Amy says this is pretty much right before her tipping point. I still had a year and a half until my tipping point and I would bet I gained another 20-25 pounds from this picture when I was at my heaviest. From both of our heaviest we have lost 154 pounds combined!!! That's more than either of us weight now!

It's quite an awesome experience to have someone losing weight the healthy way who you work with. It's daily motivation.

Fingers crossed {that I continue to inspire others}...

being shown the love...

It is NO secret I love barre3. But, now I know that barre3 loves me!!!

My local barre3 studio gave me a little shout out on Facebook. It made me feel SSSOOO special and there's been a few people who have began talking to me & congratulating me! I love connecting with people so this is amazing!

Not only do I love my local barre3 but I am lucky enough to live pretty close to the barre3 Home Office and the Pearl studio and all the amazing people there! Since I live and love here in the PNW I am lucky enough to have shared my story with some of the "higher ups" at barre3. They loved my story SO much they featured me on their weekly emails and their blog!!! I still feel like someone should pinch me.

I was the poster child {for lack of a better term} for the barre3 Share Your Story contest. While I'm not able to win any of the stellar prizes {Vitamix mixer and free clothes} there is a MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR thing in the works that I can't wait to share with you!!!

It was also pretty startling one morning to wake up and see my face smiling from the cover page of the one and only Sadie Lincoln {founder of barre3}!!!

Fingers crossed {that this is just the beginning of a beautiful relationship between barre3 and myself}...

so honored!!!

I was so excited to check my email the other day to see that I'd {little ole me} had been nominated for a "Very Inspiring Blogger Award". I was even more honored that it was a fellow cyster Lynne from Fighting PCOS Naturally who nominated me!!! I mean, a few weeks ago I wrote about being an inspiration...I guess others are seeing it too!!

And now that I have been nominated, it's my turn to follow suit! Here are the rules:

A) Display the award image on your blog. {check}
B) Link back to the person who nominated you. {check}
C) State 7 things about yourself.

1. I love my husband.
2. I turn the fire on year round.
3. I am a special education teacher.
4. I truly love teddy bears.
5. I am allergic to wearing perfume. I will get a stuffy nose the next day - every time.
6. I cannot wait to have my car paid off - hopefully by the end of summer.
7. I wish I could type here what I really want to say. But I won't...this will have to be good enough ;-)

D) Nominate 15 other bloggers and link to their sites. Then notify them of your nomination!
I know that I can't make it to 15 bloggers. I might not even be able to make it to 5...most of the blogs I read are foodie blogs. Though I am thankful for this opportunity and to be able to see some new {to me} blogs that are out there!!

Beth @ The B.E.T.H. Approach - She is a woman who has PCOS too and has lost weight the healthy way over time. She has been such an inspiration to me!

Lynne @ Fighting PCOS Naturally ~ I know she nominated me but what I love about Lynne is that she just says it how it is. I wish I did that. I mean, I do to my hubby, but not out here on the blog-o-sphere.

Amanda @ Impatient with PCOS ~ Amanda now has kiddos of her own but it is helpful to go back and look at her past posts to gain some information on how to battle PCOS.

I think that's all for now. I'm excited to see if the traffic from Amanda's blog helps mine at all! I definitely want to help people and inspire people. THANKS for the nomination Amanda!!!

Fingers crossed {that someone actually reads this post ;-)}...

me? inspirational??

I posted back in June about two of my inspirations and the very beginning of my journey {that I didn't know I was on} to be considered an inspiration myself. Back then, I didn't really see it or accept it or want it. But now, I believe it, accept it, and want to be an inspiration to others.

Years ago I was the lazy person who sat in front of the TV all afternoon/evening after work and a majority of the weekends. I ate almost all processed foods, fast foods, and drank SO MUCH DIET COKE. Like, 5 - 6 per DAY. No joke. I was 220 pounds, unhappy within my body, self-worth, appearance. You name it - I was probably unhappy with it.

Then, as you all know, I hit that tipping point, figured out I had PCOS and began my life change.

In the past few months I have had an almost constant feeling that I need to start doing more to spread my story. My PCOS story & my weight loss story. They really do go hand in hand. I don't want anything I say to seem like I am bragging or boasting, I really want it to feel like I am trying to inspire. Remember, I NEVER thought I could do this, and I have. And that, is amazing.

I have had a village of people supporting me but none as important as my husband. He really is a huge part of the key to my success. He's seen and heard all the tears, fears, triumphs, bad days, sweaty workouts and everything else that comes along with this journey. My favorite thing he tells me though, is that I am inspiring him!

Left ~ October 2011

Right ~ October 2012

85 pounds down between the two of us!!!

 

And it's not just my husband that I've heard from. It's doctors and friends and family and Facebook friends!!!

It's friends from middle school...

 

 

And friends from college...

 

And, would you know it, this friend has PCOS too!!! She's known for a long, long time but didn't know where to go or what to do or who to talk to. Now, we can have conversations and can support each other. She still lives in Spokane but it is do-able...

 

With all that being said...here is the main reason I even started writing this post...

 

I have volunteered to be part of an AMAZING program called Power Up with PCOS. It is a nationwide {maybe even worldwide} company that was founded by a woman named Beth who has PCOS. She was tired of having no where to turn and not being able to find what she needed {support, answers, information} and so she started her own company. I've been following and gleaning knowledge from her website for months. It kind of reminds me of Sadie at barre3 who founded that company because she believed in that exercise style. I am addicted to barre3 and living with PCOS so I definitely see the connection in my heart :)

 

After my phone interview yesterday, I just did my first "volunteer training" today so it will be a bit before I know everything and it gets off the ground but I want to start spreading the word now. I don't even know how many people read this blog - or who you are if you do - but if you know someone in Portland, OR/Vancouver, WA with PCOS send them my way...big things are in the works!!!

 

I'll have more details in the weeks to come as I learn what my role will be. I have volunteered to be a Power Up meeting leader, to start a group in my region {because there isn't one}. It is my hope that this new journey will teach me more about this syndrome I live with every day, help me to meet people with PCOS, and help anyone who is just beginning this journey. I don't claim to know everything about PCOS but I want to. I want to figure out how to best live with this. And this is the next step for me. My friend K has taught me so much about PCOS. It's really because of her that I even went to get the tests as early as I did. I want to pay it forward!!!

 

Fingers crossed {that I can handle all this and help someone else some day}...

my inspirations...

Since I've been losing weight people keep telling me I am an inspiration...and while I am beginning to see it/believe it...I was certainly inspired by others!!! Here, in no particular order, are some of my inspirations.
Picture this. I'm at a Halloween party with my coworkers. Two of them are talking about how, when they were pregnant, they got around or over 200 pounds. And it wasn't like they were just stating that as a number, there were comments (unknowing of my weight) about how they couldn't IMAGINE being that weight without being pregnant. Now imagine my self-image thoughts as I'm standing there, not pregnant, at 220 pounds. It wasn't a good conversation going on in my head. I actually stopped drinking because I knew if I didn't I'd say something I'd regret. I was standing there, amongst my friends, totally self-loathing myself. UG. It was one of the worst feelings in the world. Looking back, that moment, was one of my lowest moments and I didn't want to feel like that anymore. I needed to change. I started using "MyFitnessPal" the next week to start to keep track of my calories after seeing my old college classmate Lindsey's transformation...

This is my old college classmate Lindsey. She's lost almost 100 pounds. 100 POUNDS. And you know how she did it, food control and exercise. I mean, NO fad diets, NO drinks/smoothies/programs. It is amazing!! And she's lost even more since these pictures were taken. I think what I am most inspired by her is that she did it the "old fashioned way". That's how I am doing it too. I mean, it is nice to see the people's before and after's on TV, but it really got me going when it was someone I knew!!

Another person is an old frat brother of my hubby's.

This is Larkin. He has an amazing spirit and was one of my hubby's favorite frat brothers. Like I said about Lindsey, it is so much more meaningful to see people I know having such great success. Larkin, who I am friends with on Facebook, appears to go to the gym all.the.time. I don't honestly know how he's lost all the weight but it is inspirational none-the-less.

I got this message on Facebook the other day. You know how in the wide world of FB you're friends with people who you've only met a few times - well this is one of those situations. This message is from an old sorority sister of one of my best friends. As you can see, she had a baby (I think almost a year ago). I was SO surprised when this message popped up in my Inbox. I read it like 5 times. I think this might have been the turning point in my believing I might inspire others. A person, who I've met probably less than 10 times in my life, is messaging me to tell me I'm an inspiration. I guess it could be true...

Fingers crossed.