We've moved!

Hi everyone,

We have officially moved and expanded the blog and resources available to help people put themselves in the center of the equation. Check out our new site at www.intheequation.com. There you can sign up easily for the RSS feed and easily share and comment on blog posts.

Thanks for following my transformation journey and providing ongoing support. Here is the link to the new blog.

Moving the blog to new format!

Hello friends,

This week, we will be moving intheequation.com to a new blog format that is easier to use, follow, and interact with. Yay! Blogger has been a tough format and many of you have told me that you have tried to comment or follow the blog and have been unsuccessful. Plus, we are providing more information and integration with social media. You will be able to follow the blog by RSS feed and share it more easily. My goal is to eventually create an online community at intheequation.com.

Stay tuned for the new link and don't be surprised when this blog is moved to a new format. For those of you who currently follow it here, you will need to re-subscribe just one time in the new format.

Thanks for following my journey. I can't wait to share Lori in the equation - part 2 - and support you on your transformation journey.

Hugs.
Lori

Embracing my competitive spirit & mud to boot!

Most people who know me would say that I have a competitive side. Some might argue that is the understatement of the year! I like to think of it is a "healthy competitive spirit" (smile) and I KNOW it is one of the qualities that led to my success in losing 200+ pounds over the past 18 months.

On July 4th, that competitive spirit thrived. I competed in my first ever 10K race - the Tofte Trek Wilderness Run/Walk - on my beloved North Shore. For months, I have watched others compete in 5K and 10K races, even half marathons and a half ironman. I waved it off thinking the "race" scene was not for me.

A couple of months ago, I was convinced to sign up for the Women's Half Marathon in Bloomington, MN, this August. I plan to walk it to preserve my knees and must walk faster than an 18 min mile to finish the race before being kicked off the course. The "lower key" Tofte Trek on my beloved North Shore trails - six weeks before the Women's Half Marathon - seemed like a good training idea.

So, I donned race #17 and competed in the Tofte Trek 10K Wilderness Walk on Independence Day. I coaxed my friend and client, Sally Nankivell, into doing the race with me on the agreement that we would walk for fun, not competitively, and catch up personally and professionally in the process. Sally had some concern about signing up to be my walking partner and discussed my competitive spirit with me the day before the race. I assured her that I would rather have a partner than compete, and that my goal was just to finish. I didn't care so much about winning or even finishing in the top rankings.

Or so I thought! As we prepared to make our way to the starting line, I could feel the adrenaline and was pretty darn excited. And well, as it turns out, I LOVED everything about my first ever competitive race, including...

• The fact that you get a cute little race number and a bag of goodies, including a fun t-shirt; 
• Friends, neighbors and locals cheer you on along the route; 
• Many healthy and fit people - including good looking single men - run the race; 
• It involves spending time outside on nature trails in a gorgeous place - trails that I have come to love;
• You get to cross a finish line and hear your name called while people cheer for you;
• I am competing not only with myself but also with others; 
• And, perhaps best of all, you get to run through mud puddles and get all dirty! Who knew this girl would LOVE that?!

Sally, her friend Linnea and I started out at a nice reasonable clip and, while I led our group of three, we all kept a nice conversational pace up until about 3-4K. Admittedly, I wanted to pass up the single file line of walkers in front of me and had to quiet the internal voice that wanted to take off. At 3K, I got distracted from this urge to forge ahead at the first watering station where we knew the crew and they cheered us on and handed us water and sport drinks (FUN!). Not long after that stop when the trail opened up, Sally urged me to go for it and do my competitive best. Really?! 

Feeling just a bit of guilt about choosing my competitive side over friendship, I picked up the pace and started to pass walkers one by one, turning it up a notch and then two. I worked the second half of the course as hard and fast as I could through the rough terrain, tall grass, mud holes, and, yes, moving aside constantly so the more competitive runners who had the right of way could run on the single lane trail. I saw one guy lose both shoes in a big mud hole, and as we approached the biggest, widest mud hole of the entire course I had 10 runners on my tail and had to move off into an even deeper mud hole. Yes, indeed, I fell and was in mud up to waist. FUN!

Covered in a waist to toe coating of cool wet mud, I picked up the pace and pushed on. As we got closer to the finish line, there were even more cheering fans, including some really cute guys from the US Forest Service whose station we passed along the route! Locals sprinkled cool water on us...while telling us we were doing a great job and we were almost there. It was so much fun!

As I pushed past the finish line and they read my name and city - again to resounding cheers and kudos from clients and work colleagues on the sidelines. As I crossed that line, I just knew I was now hooked on this whole racing idea. I decided to embrace my competitive spirit knowing that indeed there will be many more races in my future, and hopefully, many with mud! As I walked back to meet up with Sally and Linnea and walk them to the finish line, I realized that I wasn't even tired. Yeah. Mission accomplished.

I finished the race #8 of 33 women walkers at about a 15.40 min mile. For a wilderness trail with mud and obstacles, all the while stepping aside to give the right of way to the runners, I was happy with that time. And I think it bods well for the half marathon which is nearly twice that distance but on more solid ground. What a way to start the day, uncovering not just my competitive spirit but a passion for fitness, health and anything where people stand on the sidelines and cheer for me! :-)

Some people might be hesitant to admit to their competitive nature or their fondness of what it feels like to have cheerleaders on the sidelines supporting you. Not me. I KNOW that both of those things helped me achieve my weight loss goal this past year. And so I celebrate that competitive spirit and thank all of those who cheered me on - Wednesday in the race, and in my race to lose 200+ pounds.

If you had told me two years ago that I would be competing in athletic races of any kind - let alone a wilderness trek or a mud run, after a week of climbing some serious mountains in Maine, I would have laughed at you. And yet, look at me now! I am, having so much fun embracing the new, active and fit Lori that I can't wait to see what is next. The truth is, I am considering actual rock climbing up the side of cliffs with ropes! But for now, bring on the mud.

A magic diet pill?

In all the big news of late - including Obamacare upheld by the Supreme Court - the headline about Belvig (a new weight-loss pill) being approved by the FDA may have gotten lost in the shuffle.

This one is important to me. How many times did I pray for a diet pill that would solve my obesity problem? Many, many, many times. If only it were that simple. Certainly, if it were, we wouldn’t have an obesity epidemic in this country.

The diet drug adjusts Serotonin levels in the brain to make you feel full. (For many of us, this wouldn't have helped!) In my view, the impact/results shown in the study were somewhat insignificant. They studied 7,000 people who lost about 5% of their body weight on average -- about 13 lbs -- in one year! 

No disrespect intended but I lost that in 1-2 weeks the good old fashioned healthy way through diet and exercise. I lost 175 lbs in one year and 200+ in 1 1/2 years. If I had only lost 13 lbs a year (or even 20) I probably would not have stuck with the plan/program.

The FDA urges diet and exercise with the drug for best results. :) And while it is the first diet pill to be approved in 13 years, they did refuse to approve the same drug in 2010. In addition to the side affects and risk factors mentioned (see articles below), the drug apparently caused tumors in animals tested. Many argue it is too early to tell whether there are really any serious side affects. Then in my view, the drug is not safe. Many so called diet pills have already been pulled from the market after being FDA approved.

I believe diet and exercise are not only the healthiest ways to drop significant weight, but doable. If I can do it, I know you can. I just came from a very inspiring group meeting tonight of women -- all obese -- working the same program and path I worked. Many of them also prayed for that magic pill but in my view they are all going to experience the same kind of amazing results I had because of their sheer will and determination to work the program over time.

I never want to take away anyone's hope. In fact, quite the contrary. But my advice is to make sure you know the facts before you put your hope or your health in the hands of a magic diet pill. There is a lot of information out there for you to make your own decision on this matter. 

The one thing I know for sure: diet and exercise work. I am standing here to prove it. And while it wasn't magic, I wouldn't trade one moment of my life-changing transformation journey today for a pill! Not one moment because I transformed on the inside and out.


Here are a few links to some of the press on the newly approved diet pill.
Belviq: 5 Things You Need to Know About the New Weight-Loss Pill 
FDA approves prescription diet drug Belviq  
Weight-loss pill claims to fight obesity

One brave thing

From my place of personal retreat

This morning I awoke to my body’s own alarm clock for the sixth day in a row – no buzzing cell phones, alarms or blaring radio. Turns out, my body functions quite well on 6 to 7 hours a sleep as long as I get that sleep consistently. From my big beautiful King bed with a view of the ocean, I listened to the gentle pitter-patter of the soft rain on the roof top, stretched my legs while embracing every stretch deep in my calves all the way to my the tips of my toes.

I breathed deeply and concentrated on the sound of my breathe releasing from my body. And then I eased out of bed thinking about how cool it is that I have seen a butterfly every day of this week-long personal retreat – a butterfly the symbol of transformation!

As I made my morning coffee and took in the expansive view of gorgeous Penobscot Bay at near high tide, I smiled at how fortunate I am to be greeted by this view each morning. I thought about how much I love to watch the tide roll in and out - how calm and centering it is. Honestly, I could watch the tide roll in and out all day. And it strikes me that this is a perfectly acceptable thing to do when on retreat.

It fills me up as the tide rises to fill the ocean bed, giving the sea creatures new life and places to explore. And when the tide descends out to expose the ocean floor, I feel my challenges or perceived problems flowing out with the tide creating fresh space in my heart and mind for what comes next. Low tide is perfect because it gives us fertile places to explore and we always discover something new and interesting. Low tide leaves tide pools behind to foster that new life and discovery and we always have the certainty that just as the tide rolled out and exposed something, it will come back in to high tide and fill us up. Perhaps our most important lesson from the tide is to learn to go with the flow. To experience the beauty both as the tide rolls in to fill up the basin and as it rolls out to expose new life and opportunities and things yet to be discovered.

I love that thought. I love this day. I am a lucky girl. Today, like the tide, I will go with the flow.

What’s the point?
I came to Maine on personal retreat. And none of these things I just described noticing in full would have happened had I been back in Minnesota in my day to day life. So I am celebrating that. I am celebrating me today.

This retreat didn’t start out as such. In fact, it started out as a business planning expedition and I had hoped that a friend and future business partner might accompany me here to climb some big mountains, celebrate my transformation, and ponder how we might help thousands of people transform their bodies and lives. Yes, in my mind, it was to be a trip of big and bold discoveries answering the question: What next? All, while climbing the big and bold mountains of Acadia National Park.

When it became clear that this business planning exploration wasn’t going to work out, I decided to come to Maine anyway. I immediately and enthusiastically recruited friends and colleagues to join me for all or part of the trip now deemed part vacation and part business planning. I was determined to have a climbing partner so as to climb some really big mountains in Acadia in my new, fit body and spirit. I was a woman on a mission.

About the same time the trip neared on the calendar and none of my friends and colleagues were able to make it happen, my life started to get a bit crazy. My sleep slipped to 4-5 hours instead of the needed 6-7; my work life started to feel a bit out of control and it was clear my growing business needed me to solve some big challenges; and I began to struggle again with emotional and compulsive eating issues – out of the blue after 1 ½ years of plan success. It occurred to me that all of these things were signs that I was slipping out of the center of the equation of my life, and I wasn’t sure how to live in this new body and new life sans 200+ pounds. I needed a time out. A place of personal retreat, all alone, to refocus my energy around Lori in the equation, chapter 2.

What does life look like, feel like and need to “be” like sans the 200+ pounds I have been hiding behind for most of my adult life? How do I maintain this record weight loss as the fanfare surrounding my success dies down and it is just me standing in the kitchen? And, perhaps most importantly, how do I make certain that when life’s challenges and opportunities come my way I remain in the center of my life open to the possibilities before me? How do I ensure that, just like I was open to the opportunities when I met O’Neal Hampton and Leif Anderson who guided me on this transformation journey, I can see the new opportunities (perhaps a romance, a new business, a new partner…) and am ready to grab hold and take the leap? How do I stay true to myself and my values when relationships challenge me testing my love, fortitude, boundaries, and my ability to let go and let God? These are the questions that fill my heart. My very happy heart. But nonetheless, it occurs to me that I don’t yet have the answers. They lie within me and it is time to explore. This, is my chapter 2.

Lori in the equation #2
And so here I am. Alone. On personal retreat in one of my favorite places on earth – my friend’s gorgeous coastal home overlooking Penobscot Bay less than an hour from Acadia National Park. I am edged between the sea that I love so very much and the mountains that I have grown to love for all they represent about this journey. I am in life transition - a place of endless opportunity! And while I could in no way have predicted this life transition 1 ½ or 2 years ago, I am thrilled to embrace it and ponder what next? My goal is to love the questions themselves and to live into the answers - as one of my favorite writers and poets Rilke so eloquently said.

Rather unexpectedly and perfectly I am doing it for Lori. It is about only Lori. And it is providing me the time, opportunity and space to look deep into my heart and soul and determine what I want, what I need, and where I go from here. It is perfect. It is exactly how it is meant to be...and where it is meant to be.

What will happen for me this week and beyond is yet to be determined. But, I have embarked on this “One Brave Thing” experiment to encourage myself to do one brave thing a day while here and to blog about the experience in an effort to challenge myself and continue to push my limits. But more importantly, because I CAN! It is fun for me now to do new things, try new things, be open to new things. Frankly, it's all I want to do.

This newly transformed Lori LOVES life right now and is empowered by a new belief and guiding principle that she can do anything, absolutely anything, she sets her mind to. The opportunities are endless. I now live from a wholehearted, passionate and connected place, living and loving with my whole heart, my whole self exposed sans 200 pounds. It is scary at times. This is new territory for sure. But it is from here – from this place of total and complete authenticity and vulnerability – that I will blossom and thrive and hope. I also believe it is from here that I will inspire others and change lives – including my own.

So here I go. Exploring my next chapter and determining how best to be true to myself and hold myself in the center of my own life, while doing all the things that I want to do and help all of the people I want to help. It is from this place that I expect to fall in love, change the world, and who knows how or when or where. That’s the exciting part! And yes, perhaps, the scary part. But remember, “I’ve got this!” “We’ve got this!”

Peace by piece
Just before I got on the plane this past week, I read a blog that touched me deeply. It was titled, Peace by Piece, by Chris Assaad, and the opening paragraphs captured my attention as if it were speaking directly to me and just the right moment. It read:

“Life is a journey, a process that unfolds one moment at a time. One of the greatest challenges that we as twenty-first-century human beings face is living in this world of doing and striving, while at the same time honoring the here and now, the moment that we’re living in at present.

We all have sky-high dreams and ambition to reach the top of the mountain, but so often we forget that it is the quality of every step we take along the way that will determine not only if and how quickly we reach our destination, but also what our experience of the path that takes us there will be like.

As has been said many times before, it is not the goal itself we are really after, but how we will FEEL when we get there. It is not the soul mate that we really want, but the experience of love, connection, and intimacy that we will be able to share with them. It is not the job itself that we are after, but the sense of accomplishment and security that will come with it. It is not the shiny award that we really desire, but the feeling of being enough and the validation of our ability that it represents. And the great mystery of life and the spiritual path is that all of those feelings are available to us RIGHT NOW, not out there but deep within us.”

And so it is. I go exploring, seeing, being, experiencing and listening to my heart. Ah yes, mountains will be climbed (big ones conquered solo), and there is something so perfect and so powerful in that. I am exactly where I should be. And you know what else? I am enough. I am all that I need. And wow, does that feel incredible to say, write and believe for the first time in my life. I am indeed enough.

*Stay tuned for my one brave thing a day blogs coming soon.

My first "real" press hits newstands

Hi all,

Thanks for your love, support and kind messages this past week as my Minnesota Monthly Magazine makeover piece hit newsstands. I have been inundated with calls, emails and facebook greetings in the past 4-5 days. I am humbled and blessed by your belief in me. Thank you!

The article is now posted online and you can read it here. What a surreal experience to see your picture and story plastered all over the pages of a magazine that people read! This past Wednesday night, I was watching people on the plane from MSP to Bangor, Maine reading my story. Wow, felt strange for someone who is constantly behind the scenes pitching others' stories to the media to now suddenly be the focus of the story. A bit unnerving, I have to admit.

The truth is, I loved the makeover and Minnesota Monthly Style Editor Katie Dohman did justice to my transformation story with a style and fashion bent/new identity bent. Not that easy to do. A special thank you to Katie for taking this on and being so supportive of my journey. Also, thanks to my friend Christine Strub who helped with the makeover photo shoot; Jeanne Carpenter who has pitched my story to local media; and to all of you who have encouraged, cheered and supported me throughout this transformation journey.

I am a lucky, lucky girl and feel so blessed! This week, I am celebrating the next chapter in Downeast Maine, Penobscot Bay. What next? Determining how to maintain a healthy and active life with the focus on Lori in the equation. Speaking of fit and active, I am climbing some big mountains right now in Acadia National Park. More on this topic and our new blog launch - very soon! Stay tuned.

In the meantime, thanks gain for your love and support. It makes all the difference. I am simply overwhelmed with joy and gratitude.

Cheers!
Lori

What choices am I making?

"Transformation is not five minutes from now; it's a present activity. In this moment you can make a different choice, and it's these small choices and successes that build up over time to help cultivate a healthy self-image and self esteem." 

                                                                                                                                                           ~Jillian Michaels