Success Story #76 RS08

Name: R. Schmidt
Location: JFK Medical Center. Atlantis, FL
Improvement: 12 lbs Weight Loss / 2.5% Reduction of Body Fat
Time: 3 Months
Program: 2008 Total Transformation Challenge

1)  My biggest challenge/obstacle was being hesitant to push myself.  To settle for "good
enough" when working harder is what makes the difference between" good enough"  and
"better".  Another big obstacle was not understanding the difference between real miles and  the  pedometer miles that my body was used to walking.  Walking real miles really made a difference in getting the scale to move down.
 
2)  Being on a team was a great motivator.  Seeing my team mates working as hard as they did made me want to do better.  Not only my team mates but everyone doing the challenge, they were all really pushing themselves.  Having a team mate sitting at the next desk and saying "No, you can't have that cookie"  was a BIG help.  And seeing the scale moving downward was enough to get me moving out to the park to walk a few more miles.
 
3)  The diet changes that I began at the start of the challenge involved my beginning to
keep a food diary.  I have done this before with a fair amount of success.  I tried to
limit myself to 1500-1700 calories a day and to limit fat grams to 20-30 grams per day.
I ate a lot of chicken and more green vegetables.  Less sweets and bread.  I did allow
myself a cheat night on Friday.  And in the 12 week period of the challenge I only had 3
Dairy Queen ice cream cones!!!
 
4)  My advice is fairly simple.  Become aware of what you are eating and drinking.  Keep
track, if only for a few days of all that you are taking in.  Get moving.  Walking is
something that almost all of us can do.  Build some muscle.  You'll look better, feel
better and more confident and you'll burn calories faster. Allow yourself to be a little
hungry at times.  It feels so much better than to walk around with that bloated, "I ate too
much feeling"
 
5)  Going forward from here I hope to make a matter of maintaining the weight and fat loss that I have accomplished.  I will definitely be walking much more that I was.  I will also try to be fairly strict with my food intake during the week.  It makes treating myself on Friday that much more enjoyable.
 
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