I just received an e-mail giving me the heads up that the Mrs. Michigan pageant is just 60 days away. I am 60 days closer to my goal to become Mrs. Michigan United States 2008. Today I'm feeling hopeful, positive, and grateful to God for His wondrous works in me. I got on the dreaded scale today and found I have lost a total of 41 pounds! I have just 14 pounds to go to reach my goal weight. Whew!

Here's a thought; believeing in yourself and others is the best faith one can have to achieve realistic goals. I believe in myself. I believe that God has given me a purpose in life. With energy and enthusiasm I've ignited the fire I need to reach the goals that are important to me. (My paraphrase from Lund) As a Life Coach and Counselor, goals and goal setting has always been important to me. Goals are what keep you going.

 And so it was with enthusiasm and vigor that I began this weight loss journey. In September 2008, I weighed approximately 205 pounds. Now granted at 5'10" that wasn't exactly obese, but it wasn't exactly at my personal best either. I  had the  necessary epiphany while celebrating 2 years clean at my Narcotics Anonymous home group meeting. As I was trying to get dressed, everything looked hideous. It didn't take long for me to realize I was not comfortable with my weight. It took even less time for me to make up my mind to do something about it. Now as a person that studies psychology, I find it easy to dissect and analyze everything. I realized that I had been substituting food for cough syrup. Whenever I had a negative emotion or even just to avoid feeling negative emotions, I would eat. Once I realized this, I began to focus on handling my negative emotions in a more constructive fashion. Feeling my emotions instead of covering them up with food helped me begin to lose weight pretty quickly. I also had a birthday coming up and dadgummit, I absolutely refused to join the frump club! I did a complete overhaul of my diet, and stepped up my exercise program. The old me started to emerge. Thank God. I was still there. Next thing you know, I decided I should continue to have fun and be a role model and get into this pageant. What a blast I am having!

Today I have just come from the gym. I work out about 5-6 days a week. My typical gym time is 2 hours. Today I was there from 9:35 A.M.- 1:25 P.M. As I get stronger I can keep going for longer periods of time. So each week I have a really hard day or so. I am doing body sculpting which involves many reps with varying weights. Oh joy! Hey, I have a GOAL! When I walk across that stage in May, win or lose, I want to know within myself that I am at my personal best. I want to be the woman who has known hard work, commitment to excellence, perseverance, and faith. I want to be Mrs. Michigan United States, 2008. Please keep me in your prayers as I rock it to my goal!