Well folks, this is our last week. It has been an incredible summer and I have somehow managed to resist the urge to sneak a peek at final results and see who might be in the lead! I want to be surprised next week with the rest of you! Anyone who really knows me (ahem Aaron, Adam, Jen, Mike), knows that not peeking is an incredible feat of will power for me! I like to KNOW!!
Before I get to this weeks results, let me say this. You guys have all been incredible. No matter how many pounds you lost, if you stayed in the game and didn’t give up completely, you are winners or umm losers. Goodness, knows I have lost a ridiculously small amount during this challenge and I am quick to compare myself to others and their losses. But when I go there, I am quickly reminded of where I started, where I have been, the battles that have been fought and won, and the war that is still going on. I am quickly reminded that this war is not just about pounds shed but about transforming a life. Transformation is not overnight. It takes time and patience. But more than that it takes forgiveness. Forgiveness for myself when I mess up or fail.
In an attempt to encourage another friend to be bold and go forth in what he said he wanted, I found this quote.
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”-Theodore RooseveltIt is easy for others to sit on the sidelines and cheer or give well meaning advice or tell us the coulda/shoulda’s, but we are the ones facing the daily battles with food and whatever other crap we have in us that keeps us in the place we are in. We are the ones that know exactly what strength it takes to resist that cupcake or ice cream or that 2nd helping of deliciousness. We are also the ones who know when we have given in and maybe for a moment, given up in defeat. We are the ones doing this, and we are doing this…even when we struggle we are still doing this. No one on the sidelines is doing this for us. Coach and Aaron do not do this for me, they cannot. All others can do is try to encourage us and to help us along, but even then they do not and cannot know what this battle is like.
So as we head into this final week, do not quit now. Whatever your weight is, be sure to send it in, knowing that if it is a gain, you get to go again and at the very least, I, will celebrate with you! I will celebrate where you have come from and the great courage it has taken to get you to this point in your journey knowing from my own experience that we will all fail time and time again but eventually we will not fail anymore.
With all that said…give up for Lina for being the biggest loser of the week with a 1.35% loss and only 4 lbs to go to meet her initial goal for this summer!! Lina! You amaze me!!
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