Winners for New Yr New You Challenge

[lsunrae]

Hello all, After a very busy and hectic Weekend and Monday I have narrowed it down and the two winners will be announced in the morning because my time has gotten away from today. In truth this is the first time that I even was able to open up my computer today!! So hopefully tomorrow will be less hectic. Thanks and check back in the morning!!!


Crystal Little

Little Creations By Crystal

[lsunrae]

I posted this in the other thread also but here is the winners announcement!!!

Hello, I would like to announce the winners of the New Yr, New You challenge and here they are..........

SABRA and SHERYL !!!!!!! Congrats girls you have won two free files from Little Creations.

I will be posting soon how exactly you can get those files!!!

Crystal

[cropangel]

wow i won something i love winning something Yeah and congrats to sabra too

Sheryl

[Games]

Congrats SABRA and SHERYL

[rsmobley85]

Congrats to both of you.

Sharon

[lsunrae]

Ok so here is my story of success with health and fitness. It has not come to an end though I am still on my journey.

I grew up never liking vegetables and never eating right. My family was large and we didn't have alot of money so we ate alot of fried foods and heavy starches. So when I became an adult I basically followed in the same steps plus I had a major sweet tooth. So everyday I was eating things like pancakes in the morning or a sugary cereal then lunch was anything I could find and dinner was always like Mac and Cheese with burgers or hot dogs and then throughout the day I was eating twizzlers or Chocolate Chip cookies or Fried Mozzarella sticks. Plus I loved Fried Chicken and Pizza and bacon was like my best friend. I could sit and literally eat a whole entire package of Chewy chips ahoy. Or half of a half gallon of Mint chocolate Chip ice cream. Then snacks also included chips with sour cream and fruit snacks plus so much more. I cannot leave out the restaurants like McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy's, Arby's and countless others. My daughter was also eating all of this.

In 2004 I was 7 months pregnant with my son when I was eating a 2000 calorie meal at Olive garden with a friend of mine when suddenly I couldn't breath that good and started to couch alot. I left the restaurant and drove very quickly to my husbands job. When I got there I was able to go in and express to him that I was having trouble breathing and that my chest felt funny. This was hard to tell him because I was constantly coughing at this point. I was rushed to the ER and hospitalized for 3 days. This is what was happening.

My heart was starting to go into shock because my potassium and Magnesium levels were severely low. With this they were able to find that I have a prolapse valve in my heart and I also have a valve that leaks. They explained to me that eating healthy was very important for my levels to stay where they needed to be.

So I got better and just figured that this was caused by the pregnancy. 2 yrs later I was still experiencing some heart problems. About once a week I would have an episode with my heart that would take my breath away or make me very tired from the struggle of the blood getting through the prolapsed valve. For some reason I still did not eat right. I would try some of the fad diets but wouldn't touch the veggies or most of the fruit. Then in 007 I saw a picture of myself with my kids at the Local Corn Maze. I didn't realize how much weight I had gained. I was 5 feet 4 inches and I weighed [B]175 lbs[B] I could not believe it. How could I have let my self go this far. So as I sat thinking about this problem I realized that this was why my heart was bothering me so much. I couldn't even go up my stairs without getting out of breath. I glanced back at the picture and saw something else. My daughter, she was sitting there eating a popsicle and I started to notice how over weight she was too. Not extremely overweight but definitely heavier than she should've been. I did this to her. I was the bad example.

So what did I do about it? Well not much at first because I had no idea what to do and then God stepped in. I was in the supermarket on day when I came across another homeschool mom who I had talked with on occasion and she and I got into a conversation and somehow in that conversation started talking about exercise and eating right and she shared with me that she just got her degree in health and nutrition and she was now a certified fitness trainer. I couldn't believe it!!! Maybe this was my chance. So I really humbled myself and basically asked her in the supermarket with tears streaming down my face if she would help me. I told her that I was so afraid that I was not going to live long enough to see all that I wanted to see with my children and I was afraid that the same would happen to them. I didn't have money for a trainer so I wasn't sure if she would be willing to go cheap and I mean super cheap!! She told me that if I would really give it everything she would teach me how to eat and show me the exercises and all I would have to do is give her $10 dollars when we would meet at the gym. Which ended up being 4 days the first week then 2 days a week for the month after that.
This woman sat down and showed me that the food I was eating was spiking my blood sugar so much that I was constantly adding more fat cells to my body. Then she showed me the basics of working out at home or at the gym. She gave me a layout of eating basics. Like at every meal you should have a Good Carb, Protein and Good Fat. If you are really trying to lose weight no carbs after 5PM. Eat things like fruit and veggies ( this took some getting use to) Whole grains and no more frying my foods. Plus drink lots of water. After implementing all of the changes and sticking too them I was able to drop 25 pounds in 3 mths and keep it off!!!

This is my story, there are many more details to the steps of eating right and working out but this is the general part of it. Of course it is not over yet. After I miscarried in October I put back about 6 lbs on I think because of depression more than anything. But I currently have lost 2 of those and am getting back to that 150 mark but I am not stopping there my goal is 135. I started working out again about 2 weeks ago and have been able to workout for about an hr a day 5-6 days a week. The eating part is the hardest and I am slowly getting back on track there. I went from a size 14 to a 10 and am hoping for a 8 pretty soon. Thank you for listening to my story!!! I hope that somewhere on this board that someone has been inspired to get healthy from this challenge. Thanks again and God Bless!!!!

P.S. My heart only bothers me a couple times a month now!! WooHOO!!!!

In Christ Name
Crystal

[ChrisDurnan]

Phenomenal story Crystal! Thank you for sharing!

[Games]

I agree Chris. So glad your did this one Crystal but most of all glad you are willing to share. Keep up the great work!:)

[cropangel]

Crystal great story and glad you are seeing the effects of what things can do to you and you were able to change those things.

with me a lot of why i wanted to lose weight was so i would not be a diabetic like my dad and his whole family and i still have a chance of becoming one but if i do there are ways to manage without medicine if i eat what i should and doing what i do now i know i could do it.

again thanks for sharing

Sheryl

[MamawAnn]

Thank you Crystal for sharing this awesome story. I started on Jan 4th trying to change my lifestyle (I try not to use the Diet word LOL) Your story is truly an inspiration.