It's over

The weight loss challenge is over.  After 39 days of competition, everyone weighed in today.  The top three were close, very close. 

It was hard, I won't lie.  The money as a motivator helped.  Some times when I felt like quitting, I would remember the $25 entry fee with the winner taking all and it would certainly help. 

I knew I had to do this realistically, not starve myself for over 5 weeks.  There would have been bodies strewn about as I get grumpier the hungrier I get as I have mentioned once or twice.  I still got moody when hungry, but really who could tell the difference?  I had some treats, just watching portion sizes and more importantly making sure nothing was in the house to eat that was treat-like. 

I have figured out two breakfasts that totally work for me.  Cottage cheese and fruit is one that keeps me full until my first lunch.  The other is greek yogurt, raspberries and bran buds.  I would eat half for breakfast and the other half later.  Then have a healthy (Pre-prepared portion controlled) lunch around 2:00.  I planned meals, cut fruit and veggies on the weekends, made lunches ahead and froze them.  It's a lot of work.

The challenges were hard.  If you read my last post, I was doing well on the gluten-free one even with extra challenges.  Later that day as I was eating my hamburger (on a gluten-free bun!), I offered my husband the rest of my salads as I was full.  He said "doesn't macaroni salad have gluten?"  I failed on a fork full of food because I didn't even think about it.  I got half of the challenges, the others; not so much.

As for exercise, I picked it up a bit.  As I have mentioned, I already do a moderate amount of exercise so I didn't want to burn out or hurt myself early on and wreck it.  I swam more, offered a cycle class to the other competitors, jogged a few times and made an effort to stay active.  This part was not as hard but then I could be more active too.  I do need to plan my activity like I plan my meals or I find that I just don't do it some days.

Are you curious as to who won?  It was me!!!!  I lost 14.7 pounds!!!  I forgot to get a picture, but I'll put one on soon.  In the last week, many people have been noticing and commenting on my weight loss which helps as extra motivation to continue.  I am glad I won, but it was a win win situation anyways no matter what as I lost almost 15 pounds and hopefully will keep that off and continue losing.  I do have the other girls to thank as I (obviously based on the past year) can't do this alone.  I still have a long ways to go, but this is a great start!