In this corner, weighing in @ a 20% drop in weight is…Nelley!
1000’s of workout hours, 100’s of healthy meals carefully planned out, dozens of supportive friends and family members, 9 health-minded gals, 6 month timeline, goal setting of 1-2lbs per week, 1 cash prize, 0 excuses.
Nelley - Up & coming rapper
Thank you scale, thank you girls and thank you dear, sweet motivating $$$.
This award means so much to me. First of all, I would like to thank God, without whom I never would have had the courage to launch my rapping career – oh wait. Wrong speech. That’s my 2011 best new artist Grammy award speech. Stay tuned for that one but in the meantime…(shuffling papers)
Ok, here we go:
First of all, I’d like to thank water, of which I drank 9+ glasses per day for the past 6 months. In addition – I’d like to thank readily available restrooms for your support with this endeavour.
I’d also like to thank Taco Bell the other night and my body’s resulting reaction to it as a reminder that cheap, greasy food in large quantities (although delectably delicious) is not made for a healthier body. I would also like to apologize to my good friend who was literally trapped in the enclosed ‘Taco Bell reaction space’ with me as we traveled up to Whistler, BC. You truly are a trooper and I thank you for that.
Thank you to the hardcore trainers @ crossfitwestside for repeatedly kicking my arse twice a week and making me lift weights heavier than I imagined (they made me dead lift 225lbs!) and doing workouts I never thought possible (150 squats followed by 75 sit-ups in under 5 minutes- say what??)
Peace out to the naturalistic dietitian and health foods specialist @ Dynamic By Nature who finally confirmed my belief that diet and processed low fat foods are crap and that organic, all natural full fat foods (in smaller portions) are the way to go.
Our house was just past the 2nd mountain over there
Of course, I can’t forget to thank my dear, sweet parents for this past summer. Although they did rent a wonderful home for us to use, they opted to go carless AND chose a rental home that was a 35 minute walk from EVERYTHING in Lahti, Finland. This forced me to walk everywhere and anywhere – 2 to 3 times a day for several weeks. Yah. Thanks for that. Thanks a lot.
Namaste to the hot yoga folks @ Bikram Yoga who generously extended the 7 x90 minute remaining sessions I had for another 6 months. No I haven’t gone since they extended my membership but I’m sure the stress I put on myself to go and then the guilt I felt for not going surely resulted in some burnt calories.
I’d also like to thank that grossly overweight woman walking with a cane at the Cinnabon shop in the Las Vegas airport for reminding me that the perfect topper to a weekend filled with booze, burgers, pizza and fries was the grilled chicken sandwich I had and not the 6 pack of frosting covered baked thigh-busters she was devouring… right?? As a compromise I considered incorporating frosting in the salad somehow. Luckily sanity won out. Darn sanity.
Props to my favourite British reality TV show – You Are What You Eat as 
the repeated clips of participants during an actual colonoscopy coupled with bloated, stretched out unhealthy bellies being rubbed and prodded really motivates you to move your butt…and to cringe and look away. Then to peek back again because it’s so gross you can’t believe what they let you see on British TV. Then look away again until you think it’s safe. Then peak and squeal in horror as you see there’s even more flesh to goggle at and prod and squeeze. Then rinse eyeballs and repeat.
Another big thank you to the gross Chinese food restaurant on my block for proving that greasy, shiny Chinese food isn’t always delicious and is sometimes better left to die and rot in the shiny metal chafing dishes from whence it came. Gawd bless.
Shout out to liciousliving, a healthy eating delivery/take out shop based in Toronto and Vancouver where, early on, I purchased several meals a week from and who inspired me to create several favourites such as:
Maple Smoked Salmon salad;
Maple smoked salmon, red/yellow peppers, spiced walnuts
Dill & Crab Cake Salad;
Organic Crab Cake, fresh dill, red grapes & sliced strawberries
and my famous (to me at least) Shrimp Caesar Salad:
Shrimp, avocado, red peppers & celery
Big ups to Dr. Phil who recommends as you slim down to remove all your larger sized clothing so there’s nothing to fall back into. Great advice but I must have missed the episode on who pays for the new stuff you need to replace the old stuff. I should ask his pal Maury Povich. If he can track down the 20th man who might be the father, surely he can easily find one who might pay for my new wardrobe. DNA test optional.
Which brings me to ‘3 Cheers!’ to my roomie, a trend-spotting shopper whose closet, mostly unbeknownst to her, I have raided on numerous occasions. Her extensive wardrobe of beautiful and stylish items seriously bulked up my own baggy and dowdy duds. Stylish blazers and carefully tailored shirts can go a long way to improve the look of pants that are several sizes too big. Were she ever to peruse my Facebook photos she would surely note that half my outfits look strangely familiar, hee hee hee.
And a final thank you to the wad of cash. Woo! It’s not a whole lot but enough to cover my purchase of new runners, workout tops, jogging pants, jeans that fit, work pants that fit (yee gads this is 9-1-1!), a winter jacket, a workout hoodie, a leather weekend bag, a few winter sweaters from Old Navy, winter boots, rain boots, a new belt, a blazer from Banana Republic (on sale of course), a couple new shirts, a few blouses and anything else I held off buying for the last 6 months. To put it in perspective, for the past 3 weeks I’ve been using safety pins, a $9 belt on its tightest rung, a dash of hope and a heap-load of prayers to keep my work pants up.
I think it’s finally time to go shopping.
The Final STATS:
Height: 5’7” (no change, heh heh)% weight loss: 20% In lbs: 44lbs In kilos: 20kg
Inches lost Bust: 3.5″ Waist/abdomen: 5″
Hips: 4″ (still got that booty, woo!)
Exercise Program
Crossfit total body workouts- 2x/week
Cardio and/or weightlifting workouts @ the local gym 4x/week
Other- boxing, spin classes, yoga, walking, dance classes: 1x/week Healthy Eating: - Lots of water, minimal sodas/sugary drinks
- 1 salad with a protein and a fiber source as a meal EVERYDAY
- Healthy eating 6 to 7 days/week…usually.
Photo credit: middle of nowhere
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