TC Health Challenge Finale - is it the end of an era? Not on your life!

Sunday, April 14th, 2013 - The TC Health Challenge Finale - As participants, the finale was our opportunity to show off all of our hard work...and get our pictures taken for the paper.  Apparently they didn't choose the deconstructed doll pose I first tried out...if I hunch my shoulders bring my elbows out and put my hands forwards on my ribcage and lift from the crown of my head and tilt it slightly to the right and then affect a doe-eyed, soft lipped vacant expression...you can almost see my clavicles.  But they didn't use that one.  It was much less high fashion, and much more friendly newspaper picture, decisively more local paper.

 

Before Sunday, Sandra McCulloch send out a request for information on our experience with the challenge.  Here's how I responded:

 

The TC Health Challenge has literally been life changing for me!

 

I knew when I first started that it wouldn’t just be a 3 month challenge, it would be a 3 month introduction to a healthy new lifestyle…a crash course of sorts in nutrition and fitness…and also, it would be my “job.”  When I first sat down to set weight loss goals with the ninja, my trainer Jonathan Carpenter, I suggested a reasonable 24 pounds…but he decided to double down and up the ante to 50 big ones.  I took a risk and agreed to it.  And, I am thrilled that I did…because here I am 3 months later 52.4 pounds lighter and 39.9 centimetres smaller.  Ninja is good, ninja is wise…I was just looking forward to wearing jeans instead of yoga pants.

 

It’s not all about weight loss though, I have met so many amazing people along the way…not only the people in the challenge, the TCers, the gang at the Crystal Pool & Fitness Centre, mental coach ChristieGialloreto, my dietician Heather Dueck, and the ninja, of course…but the people in the grocery store who stopped to tell me they were going to go for a bike ride, the guy in the car who honked and shouted, “Keep up the good work,” the gal on the treadmill next to me who’s always up for a quick check in,  the dog walkers on the beach who waved me over and asked me loads of questions about the TC Health Challenge.  It’s everyone who read my blog and then put down the TV remote and went for a walk, or intended to buy cheesies but opted for an apple instead, or tagged me in some sort of inappropriate ecard regarding fitness & healthy eating…it’s all those people who became an extended support system for me.  They may not know it, but they kept me going…and will continue to keep me going.

 

Me and the ninja @ PISE.

Energy.  Well, I have a lot of it now…possibly too much of it.  I suffer from bouts of endorphin induced slap happiness, hyper activity, and extreme optimism.  I feel like I do everything faster, longer, and with more spirit now.  Stamina.  Those stairs I conquered in the first month…I run them now, and I walk all over the place instead of relying car rides or the bus.  I live so close to town, it’s nothing to just trot across the bridge.   Strength.  I do feel stronger, and I know I’m not a hard body yet but I have earned a few “lines.”  And, don’t think for a second that I haven’t stood in front of the bathroom mirror flexing and admiring my muscle definition.         

Radical change is often hard for everyone to accept…but my family and friends have been incredibly understanding and adaptable when it comes to my complete obsession with clean eating.  They have changed proposed meals at their houses, included exercise into our rendezvous, and some of them have even benefited from lifestyle change…my husband, Stéphane, has lost 24 pounds (he’s got even better legs now and he’s lost most of the beer gut).  The changes seem to have stuck, I don’t think I’ll ever get over eating 6 meals a day though.

 

What a crazy journey this has been…and will continue to be!  I’m excited for the future.

 

Thanks so much to the TC for this enormous opportunity!

 

So there you go.  

 

FIN.  

 

But not really...I'm gonna keep going.

 

April 14th - 21st was my "active rest" period, where I only worked out once a weekday for an hour....that was the active part.  My diet remained the same...I even managed to survive a breakfast buffet at a super fancy pantsy place, but I'll save that story for another post.