What a difference a year makes

One year ago today, I was...

• At my all-time heaviest weight ever (exactly 170 lbs more than I weigh today!)
• Coming off a spell of working seven days a week, often 18 hours a day to build my business - sometimes going weeks with no more than 3-4 hours of sleep per night
• Focused on everyone and everything but me - trying to be all things to all people and hold up the world
• Garnering my success from how much I did, and who I helped
• Feeling very tired and uncertain about my future - professionally and personally
• Resigned to being single
• Unhealthy and worried that I could/would die early of a heart attack, with heart disease running rampant on both sides of my family.

I was also...

• About to embark on one of the biggest personal challenges of my life
• Scared to death about what the next two weeks would bring
• WAY out of my comfort zone
• Quieter than I think I have ever been
• Absent my sense of humor
• Wondering what the hell I had gotten myself into!

That's because one year ago today, I officially started the Fitness North program on the North Shore of Lake Superior. A two-week, live-in weight loss and fitness program (think Biggest Loser) started by Sheryl Babbitt and O'Neal Hampton (Minnesota's own celebrity on Season 9 of NBC's Biggest Loser).

This program promised results, and promised that we would work out 7-8 hours per day, six days per week at levels we couldn't even fathom. And we did. (In fact, about this time last year, I was climbing a mountain!) To be successful on campus, we learned we had to give up control and the "I can'ts" and do what we were told, when we were told - living only in that moment. We followed the lead of program director, now owner of Fitness North, Leif Anderson. And, we had to push ourselves -- mentally and physically -- past anything we thought possible. In doing so, we learned that indeed WE CAN DO IT and we would survive. In general, Fitness North promised to be the jumpstart we needed to not only achieve our weight loss goals, but transform our bodies and our lives.

Well, one year later, I am living testament to the fact that everything they promised is true! I did it. I not only survived the two-week rigorous program and lost 21 lbs while on campus, but my outlook, my energy and my life began to transform in those two weeks...forever.

For me, the journey was focused on putting Lori into the equation - right in the center of my own life. Perhaps for the first time ever. It also meant giving up the reigns of control and doing things a different way - because certainly the way in which I was living was not working. It meant going 100% all in -- like I did every day in my professional life -- but focused on this one thing that to date had eluded me. I simply had not been able to solve my life-long battle with obesity (and if we're being honest - deep down self-worth).

I am overwhelmed, overjoyed and simply amazed at the results of the past year. My accomplishment - pretty awesome if I do say so myself. Victory over this life-long battle that most certainly was going to kill me early! I am surprised most by the relative ease with which it came once I went 100% all in and believed in myself, keeping myself at the center of the equation every day and in every decision that was presented to me. Not saying it was easy, but doable. Really!

One year to the day I started this journey, I am:

• 170 lbs lighter
• Physically capable of amazing things - climbing mountains, hiking miles, biking, snowshoeing, and hopefully soon to be determined - skiing for the first time in my life
• A happy, optimistic, passionate about life, 100%-all-in-every-day Lori
• A total fashionista with the cutest clothes ever, including dresses and skirts and suits
• Focused on eating to live, not living to eat
• So much smarter about nutrition and my body
• A thriving business owner who works a lot but not at the expense of herself
• Still a giving, caring person focused on changing the world - but just not holding it up and sacrificing myself for others to prove my worth
• Emotionally - sooooooooooooo much stronger and happier
• A glass-half-full gal
• Able to loosen the reigns and give up control when I need to
• Smiling and having fun every day
• Inspiring and motivating others and paying it forward with my story, my passion and my results
• Excited as can be about the future - and what comes next. I can't wait!

And the list goes on, but this blog should not. So much more to say about the journey, the physical and emotional transformation, and what comes next. To that point, I have challenged myself to blog every day of my two-week Fitness North anniversary to take note of the journey and I hope in some way to inspire, motivate or give hope to others. So stay tuned if you are curious, care or need/want help.

THERE IS NO QUESTION THAT IF I CAN DO IT...YOU CAN DO IT!

Before I sign off, I must thank the leads of the excavation team. I simply would not be here today if left to my own devices and if I had not meant the people I needed along the way, when I needed them. There are so many who have inspired, motivated, led, pushed, encouraged, supported (roared) for me, but these are at the very top of the list and must be recognized again today. On our one-year anniversary.

•  Sheryl Babbitt for sharing her story and having the inspiration to start Fitness North. She is the founder and she found Surfside on Lake Superior, which meant in turn, she found me. Thank you Sheryl! Fitness North has now gone on to give the same jumpstart it gave me to (I think) hundreds of people and still growing. Please check them out at fitnessnorth.net.

• O'Neal Hampton my mentor, coach, single inspiration and leading lion. There is no question that without O'Neal's personal plea, success story, and exuding confidence that I could do it, I would not be here. O'Neal looked me in the eye the very first time I met him in person and said, "We can do this. We've got this. I can help you." And he did. His unbelievably generous spirit, optimistic persona, and happy confidence that he can help others achieve the kinds of results he achieved on the Biggest Loser is God's gift to anyone who crosses his path. His personal style and his story were the perfect impetus for me. I believe he was put in my path for a reason and at just the right time. He is my hero, my friend, a confidant, mentor and coach. I cried that day after I met him in a business meeting because I knew in that moment that my life had just changed forever. Check out the O'Neal Hampton Wellness Foundation and O'Neal's newest venture - a live-in weight loss camp in Texas with fellow season 9 Biggest Loser Cherita at U 1st Fitness. Life changing.
• Leif Anderson my other gift from above. The guru of fitness and nutrition, bar none. I challenge you to find someone better. This man knows his stuff and combines that knowledge with a personal caring, passion and style that is unmatched in the industry in my book. He knew when to lead, when to push, when to coach, when to hold your hand, how to navigate the landmines, and he definitely knows how to determine your personal body chemistry and work to get results. Without fail. I learned that if you follow Leif's lead, good things will happen. I have had the absolute pleasure of continuing to work with Leif personally this entire past year, on personal nutrition and fitness plans aimed at achieving my goals long term -- and being able to maintain it. And look at the results! Plus, his gentle caring side, his integrity and his passion for my success have blessed my life each and every day of the past 365. Wow, Leif, how can I ever thank you for this gift? You are simply incredible. People - check him out at Fitness North and Adonis Personal Training. The greatest blessing of all for me, perhaps, is to call Leif my friend.

Sandra Swami and Julie Gronquist, my personal trainers in the Twin Cities at Balance for Life Fitness Center are the other part of the Lori Health & Wellness Team. Julie has been with me on several false starts to the journey and knows the good, the bad, and the ugly. Sandra is kicking my butt every week in the gym and she is without a doubt one of the best personal trainers I have worked with (right up there with Leif Anderson). So, team, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Long blog. So much to say. More later. For today, I am blessed and so incredibly grateful for this new life I have been given. Gratitude is the word of the day.

Hugs. Today is a new day. Tomorrow starts today - what a great tagline for Fitness North. I wonder who came up with that! :-)

The new and improved,
Lori

P.S. Yes, at some point the before and after pictures will be published along with my starting weight. I am working up the courage.

100% - All in!

These past couple of weeks have provided a life lesson in what it means to be "100% - all in." To reach my health goals (or "Reach my potential," as the master Leif would say), I am now on one of the strictest nutritional programs since my weight loss journey began and working out at the highest cardio level thus far since I left the Fitness North campus just shy of one year ago.

For fun, I have named Leif's nutritional plans. This one - by far the "strickest" to date - is not-so-fondly called - Starvation Lite. (Only because I had already named a 1,200 calorie plan the Starvation Plan! And this one is stricter!)

I joke, but the truth is, this is the first time in nearly a year that I can honestly say I am hungry and feel some deprivation. That's not all bad. It's how we keep losing weight after a 160 lb weight loss in 11 months! I get it. And, according to Leif, I am getting all of the nutritional value my body needs. Plus, I did ask him to guide me to a 25+ weight loss in 6 weeks so I can reach a new all-time low weight by Christmas. So he is just doing his job - and quite well I might add. (Thank you, Leif!)

The topic of today's blog is about the process of committing yourself to something/anything at 100% - going all in, if you will. And, to stay the course at "100% - all in" especially when the going gets tough. Like on this plan where I end my evening meal each day quite hungry. (In the old days, my binge time.) Or, when I don't want to get out of bed in the morning 30 minutes earlier to do my additional cardio. Or, when life happens and family members are in car accidents, clients need you after hours, and you can't get to everyone and everything. Or, when hormones strike and unexpectedly mess with your head as well as your body weight. It's in those moments that it is most difficult to stay the course and stay committed at 100%. It is in those moments that sometimes, even when you go all in, you falter.

This morning (Friday) as I drove back from a kick-ass workout with Sandra Swami, my trainer at Balance for Life Fitness Center, I realized that "100% all in" does not necessarily mean perfection. For me, it means committing to something and exerting a level of effort that is 100+% - bar nothing. Leaving it all on the court. It doesn't mean that you will achieve perfection. The fact is, we're simply not perfect beings. Not me. And not you. Aaahhhhh, there is that lesson again - progress not perfection.

But the truth is, when you give 100+% and put everything you have on the table, good things will happen. Progress will be achieved. The results will be there. But you WON'T always be perfect or do it perfectly. And thus the results may not be perfect. That's okay. The thing I have to remind myself is that perfection is not the goal. Giving it your all, doing your very, very, very best and keeping your eye on the prize. That's the goal.

I expect to end this week on my new "Starvation Lite" plan with great results to show for my 100% all in effort. Not perfect, but great. And I can honestly say that I have exerted a "100% all-in" effort and focus throughout the week. I feel good. I feel strong. Nope, I didn't do everything perfectly at every meal and every workout all week. I slipped. But the thing is, I didn't hold back. I focused every day and consistently followed the plan to the best of my ability. One foot in front of the other. One day at a time, and the scale will show it. I will take what comes and know I did my best.

And with it, I will take the lesson that I am a committed, passionate, 100% all in human being who is totally rocking this journey! Sometimes I make mistakes and slip. It just means I am human. And when life intervenes and realities keep me from perfection, I won't beat myself up. I know am not perfect. In fact, who really wants to be perfect anyway. How boring?!

So, onward and upward (or downward on the scale) we go! "100% all in" feels pretty good to me. I have achieved amazing results both physically and emotionally this past year by being 100% all in. Which to me means determined, consistent, committed, passionate, and focused. It doesn't mean perfect.

What does it mean to you?