Kelly's World

**see an explanation of the 5% challenge here**

On January 4th, Kim and I began round 3 of the 5% weight loss challenge. It was possibly going to be our last as it brought Kim right down to her goal weight, so it was only fair to deem it the deciding round. As at the beginning of the round, we had previously both won one round each. Now, while I’m reluctant to write this blog post and really wish I didn’t have to, I’m also incredibly thrilled to announce:

In just over 4 weeks, Kim has dropped 5% to win the third round.

I would love to be a bad sportsman (woman?), and kick something over and cry foul. But in reality, I’m so proud of Kim. She worked damn hard to get there, and while she showed moments of weakness and wanting to cave in, her amazing determination to succeed always came through. There is no one more deserving of the title of the biggest loser, and so with that, I extend my sincere congratulations to Kim.

Kim’s graph of success:

Now, I’m not sure if Kim is still going to try to lose more weight or not given that she’s reached the area of her goal weight. I still have 1kg to go before I hit my next 5%, and after that I still have another 6kg to go until I reach my overall goal (which will bring me to a massive 20kg loss). So while there’s a chance that I won’t have anyone to compete with to get my weight down, the desire to write a blog post about reaching my weight will be motivation enough to keep me going.

Doing the 5% challenge has been such a positive experience for me. It’s put a competitive fire in my belly, but more importantly, I’ve been able to prove myself that if I truly put my mind to something I can achieve it (even with times of weakness – I’m only human after all). I write this today not as the winner of the competition, but instead someone who is still incredibly proud of what I have achieved. I am currently 12kg lighter than when we started this challenge back in September of 2009. Twelve friggin kilos. It blows my mind every time I think about it.

So again, thanks to Kim for showing me that I can be successful, and for being there when I needed a friend. For all those times you listened to me wishing that I could eat chocolate (what does that stuff taste like again?) or buy takeaway, thanks for talking me out of it.

Now…what’s our next competition?

At first I was extremely hesitant to upload this photo. Women are usually so secretive about their weights, you’d be hard pressed to get the information from them. Today I’m doing the extreme opposite. I’m sharing this information with the world. Tough, very tough.

I’m in the process of losing weight (you can read more about it here). Towards the end of last year I weighed myself, and got a reality check. I was the fattest I’ve ever been, and extremely unhappy about it. Rather than sit on the couch and scream “woe is me”, I did something about it.

I’d tried dieting before, but never really stuck to them because I’d never had that true motivation behind me. But the day I weighed in and saw my weight, and knew it was keeping me from achieving my goals, was the day I found my inspiration.

3 months later I’m now down 10kg. During the 3 months I’ve had periods where I’ve allowed myself to be indulgent – Christmas, New Years etc.But for the majority of the time I’ve maintained a healthy diet and exercised regularly.

This morning I cracked the 80kg mark. I’m extremely ecastatic, but the hard work isn’t over. I still have another 10kg to go before I begin the hard task of maintaining my weight. Putting my weight as the photo of the day for me today was tough, but I don’t think I could have it any other way. This was a major milestone for me, and I’m celebrating my achievement by sharing it with you all. Most importantly, I intend on NEVER, EVER getting this way again. Ever.

Thanks for looking.

**I should also probably mention the quality of the photo was never considered today. It was a quick happy snap from my iphone**

Back in September 2009, I was pretty fat. I was at the heaviest I’ve ever been my entire life, and definitely wasn’t happy with it. I resolved to lose some weight, another friend was interested in doing the same, and thus the 5% challenge was born. We would race to lose 5% of our body weight. Whoever lost had to buy the other one lunch; a small victory for sacrificing all the sweet fatty foods.

My friend, Kim, won the first one. We had a small break, about 2 weeks, and decided to resume for another 5% which I then won. Now we’ve just begun our third round after a month long break over Christmas. Every time we start a new challenge, we have to lose any weight put on between challenges before continuing on to lose another 5%.

We’re only into the 3rd week of our next 5%, and so far I’ve not only lost the weight I put on over Christmas, but also another 1.2kg. It has brought me down a total of 10kg since starting the challenge back in September, and at the same time I’ve cracked the 80kg mark. I can’t remember how long it’s been since I weighed less than 80kg; at least two years. I’m not done yet though, my goal weight is to be less than 70kg. The lightest I can recall being was 75kg a few years ago when I was doing personal training once a week, and I was starting to really like my appearance back then. I still could have lost more, but I was happy.

When I get down to the 70kg mark, I know it’s not going to be the actual number on the scales that will concern me then. Really, 70kg is just an estimate. I have to factor in that I will be a lot more toned and have bigger muscles, which in turn will make me heavier. At the end of the day, I just want to be able to look in the mirror and be proud. Seeing that I have lost 10kg as of this morning, I was able to look in the mirror and feel a sense of pride for the first time in a long time. My butt is smaller, my arms less flabby,and my belly is shrinking.

The best part about this whole process is that I haven’t resorted to “quick fix” weight loss. I have been watching everything I eat, cut out sweets (of which I am a BIG fan), and rarely eat potato. I give myself a treat every now and then of course, just so I don’t have the urge to binge. I exercise, and I drink a lot of water. I can hold my head up high, because I’m doing this the right way.

So in conclusion, I feel I need to issue a warning. Kim, you’re currently beating me in this 5% challenge, but watch out. I’m feeling more inspired than ever.

Frequent readers of my blog would be familiar with my attempts to lose weight through my 5% challenge with a friend of mine. So far I’ve lost just over 8kg, with another 10 – 15 to go (maybe – it depends on my body image and when I feel happy with what I see). We’ve just resumed the challenge for 2010, the first to reach another 5% loss wins.

However, this time it’s going to be different for me. A friend on twitter, JonoH, decided he was going to lose weight and at the same time raise money for charity, namely Diabetes Australia. JonoH is no stranger to raising money for good causes, having been involved in Movember in 2009. He invited anyone else who was interested to join him in the weight loss challenge, to which a number of people from twitter joined up. I was one of them, and you can find the whole list on our team page here. At the time of writing this post, there is a total of 12 members in the group.

The challenge is simple. Ask people for sponsorship, and lose the weight. People can donate either by a lump sum, or a dollar amount per kilo dropped. Our goal is to reach $1,000 by the end of the challenge. JonoH will be tweeting his weight using the Withings scales, while I will be reporting my progress weekly right here on my blog. You can also keep up to date on twitter using the official hashtag, #drop4good.

I would be honoured if you would sponsor me for this challenge. Donations can be made over the internet on our team page, http://www.everydayhero.com.au/drop4good, or if preferred, to me personally. I will then donate the money onto the team page on your behalf. There’s no set amount required, anything you can spare is welcome, it’s for a good cause!

So wish me luck; here’s to reaching $1,000 for Diabetes Australia!

In an effort to lose weight, get fit and stay healthy, a friend and I have been undertaking a weight loss challenge against each other. You can find all the details in my original blog post about the challenge here. It was originally with two, but one of my challengers dropped out soon after. He had a pregnant wife, and trying to stay on a strict diet was just too much. Understandable, when a woman has cravings you don’t deny her, and when there’s good food around all the time it would just be unbearable.

So my other friend and I continued, and she won the first 5%. The first time we raced it took just over a month. We only had 4 – 5 kilos to lose, so 1 a week made it easy. This time, not so much so. After a short hiatus, we resumed the challenge for another 5% on the 12th October. This time, we had to lose any weight we’d regained during the break from the 1st challenge, plus another 5%.

October and November proved to be the busiest social months on our calendars. We had weekends away at the Gold Coast, or Tweed Heads, or there were Hens Days or Christmas Parties. To try and remain strict on our diets would have really thrown a damper at those times. We acknowledged to the other challenger they would be pulling ahead, and then gave up for a few days (although we didn’t go silly). Most importantly though, the overall trend of our weights continued in a downward fashion.

These last two weeks, I had kicked it up a notch with my exercising. I still had the odd hiccup with a weight gain; one night I might have given to eating pasta, for example, which immediately showed on the scales the following day. Yet the weight continued down.

This morning I jumped on the scales, and BOOSHKA. I had reached my goal weight. Brilliant!! I had defeated my friend (and immediately sent her a photo of the scales with a victory message).

I’m incredibly proud to say that since the first time we began competing, I have lost a tremendous 9kg. It shows. My clothes fit a lot better (I haven’t dropped a size yet, though that has to be coming soon, my jeans are pretty loose now), and the shape of my body has changed in a most favourable way. Though I haven’t finished yet, in fact I’m only halfway to my goal. It will bring me to my thinnnest in about 7 – 8 years. Looking forward to it.

The overall trend of my weight loss during the challenge