Mission Accomplished!
Posted By: Kellie Johnson
June 10, 2008 - 3:49 PM
It's official - I AM A TRIATHLETE!!
Thanks to Michael Bland, my Gold's tri coach. Thanks to all the guys and gals with whom I trained. Thanks to Valerie, the owner of the Curves where I also work out who planted the seed, worked out with me, never gave up and actually ran the race with me. Many many thanks to my fabulous husband who supported me, did laundry, had kid duty, made lots of sacrifices for my training and threw me one hell of a party after the race. Thanks to my best friend Brook who flew in from Virginia for the race, got up at 4am (and yelled at me to get up) to make it to the "super secret parking" before the race, and helped immensely with the party prep. Thanks to all my friends and family who have provided much encouragement and kudos.
I finished the Austin Danskin Triathlon Sunday, June 10 in the sort of respectable time of 2:05:26. My goal for my first one probably should have been to just finish, but I was hoping to finish in under 2 hours. The wind and heat were pretty intense, and the swim was MUCH harder than I anticipated. I'm thrilled to have finished and ready for the next one. I'm officially hooked. Now I have a baseline and my next goal can be to just beat my previous time.
I still have about 40 pounds to lose. I've taken a little break from the eating regimine of late - using all the triathlon training as an excuse to eat whatever, whenever. The good news is that I haven't really gained any weight. The training has kept my weight in check despite what I've eaten, but I ate enough that I didn't really lose anymore despite all the training. SO.....I'm back on the wagon this week. Back to the same hard core training (I have another tri in 2 weeks). Back to the eating plan. I'm going to get the last 40 off instead of just talking about it.
YEA ME!!! :-)
May 04, 2008 - 7:35 PM
I competed in my first duathlon today! Smithville is a quaint little town southeast of Austin. The Smithville Chamber of Commerce and Team ATS (
www.teamats.com) sponsored a duathlon there today. 2.75 mile run; 12 mile bike; 2.75 mile run. I finished in 1:48. That might seem like a snail's pace if you're a seasoned multi-sport athlete, but considering I couldn't even think about doing anything like this a year ago, I'm quite pleased. Thanks to my Gold's triathlon training team for all the cheers and support! 2 of our our group placed first in their age group and 1 placed second. We all did great.
April 07, 2008 - 1:27 PM
Given the posts I've seen, all 3 Finalists seem to have been notified. The final results are:
1st Prize: Kellie Johnson
2nd Prize: Greg Sweitzer
3rd Prize: Lorraine Frankfurt
When I got the call from the 3rd-party "sweepstakes" company yesterday, I was shocked. My husband and son are very excited about our upcoming family vacation to Hawaii. I'm going to keep hitting the gym hard so I'll look great in a swimsuit when we go.
For those of you who took this personally and posted ugly things to various blogs & walls: the rules stipulated that "fake" votes would be eliminated & that the popular vote was 40% of the competition. The other 60% was the votes of a "panel of judges." I actually read the rules before I created my profile, so I knew the votes, fake or not, were only part of the equation.
So, all 3 of us are winners, and the ugliness that transpired was really unnecessary. A few people posted some really ugly, hurtful things. They did that because they made assumptions that they had no way to verify and because they were ignorant of the rules. Apparently, clicking on the "Terms and Conditions" link at the bottom of every Community-related page is more trouble than claiming to be a Christian while being nasty to someone you don't really know.
My understanding is that they will update the Community home page with the final results after all the finalists have accepted the prizes and returned the required legal paperwork.
I'm thrilled to have "won," and I'm thrilled to have been involved in a friendly challenge with 2 other fine competitors. Most of all, I'm thrilled to have changed (and extended) my life forever.
Thanks to everyone who voted for me. I know friends, family, co-workers, colleagues, acquaintances and strangers took the time to create a profile, vote & spread the word for others to do the same. Thanks also to my local Gold's Gym for passing out flyers.
Congratulations to Greg & Lorraine and all the other Community members who are working daily to change, improve & extend their lives.
-Kel
March 29, 2008 - 12:50 PM
Today is a GREAT day! I just tried on the dress I wore to my high school graduation, and it fit! I've been trying to get back into that dress pretty much since I graduated 16 years ago. YEA!!!
Voting!
Posted By: Kellie Johnson
March 26, 2008 - 11:40 PM
This is a friendly challenge! Everyone who joined the community and actually posted progress has made great accomplishments and should be proud. Lorraine, Greg & I all worked hard and are sincere in our efforts. I certainly do not claim to speak on behalf of Greg or any other contestant, but I applaud Lorraine & everyone else for their accomplishments. I don't believe anyone has received a vote he/she did not deserve. I know that before and even after the finalists were announced, many people voted for each other.
The point of this is for everyone to get healthy. I would be lying if I said I didn't want to win - the prizes are fabulous, but the prize for even 3rd is pretty cool too, and I didn't go down this road to win contests or prizes. I'm doing this for my health, for myself and for my family. I'm sure Lorraine & Greg have similar motivating factors. It's certainly not as if I'm going to give up and gain all the weight back if I don't win. I think Greg has said it on his blog many times, we're all already winners!
Please don't be negative to anyone in the community, finalists or not. That's not the point of this community.
Congrats once again to Greg & Lorraine! Whoever gets to go to "any Gold's Gym in the world" will be a great ambassador for Gold's Gym and the Community.
March 24, 2008 - 9:36 PM
Congrats to Lorraine & Greg! Thanks to everyone who voted for me. I'm super excited for all three of us and for everyone who has committed to change his/her life & used this community to achieve goals and find support.
My Story
Posted By: Kellie Johnson
March 23, 2008 - 8:52 PM
I haven't blogged during this challenge, but I'll go ahead and submit my story...
I’m a 34-year-old native Texan who has struggled with my weight for about as long as I can remember. I grew up with the 4 basic Texas Food Groups: Tex-Mex, Barbecue, Fried Food & Sweets. Like most people, I celebrated with food, comforted myself with food, socialized with food, rewarded myself with food, etc.
I was the stereotypical yo-yo dieter and have been on just about every diet plan that exists. The cycle would start with a new diet or a new workout regime, some weight would come off, but not nearly fast enough, discouragement, temptation, program abandonment and then a return of the lost weight plus interest. I’ve probably lost and gained the weight of your average Texas steer!
Marching Band & Twirling were my activities of choice in High School which didn’t keep me from adding more weight to my already overweight body. In college I continued with Marching Band, added intramural sports to my activity list and still managed to pack on quite a few pounds. After graduation inactivity set in and I continued packing on extra pounds while getting married and having a son.
I have a wonderful husband of 12 years and a fabulous son who is 6 and in Kindergarten. My goal is to live a long, happy, healthy life with my family. I know I am setting an example for my son and even my husband, and I want that example to be of healthy eating and an active lifestyle not of inactivity and overeating junk food. I want my family to be healthy, happy and active together.
As of April, 2007, I was about as far away from this goal as I possibly could be. We went on a family vacation to Walt Disney World and my 5’4” frame had to carry around over 300 pounds. I didn’t fit in the airline seat, and I barely squeezed into most of the amusement park rides. My feet and ankles ached as we walked around the parks. Unfortunately, we had to limit our activities because I was so overweight, unhealthy and out of shape.
The pictures from this trip tell the whole story. I was miserable looking at them and seeing the reality of just how overweight I had become. I enjoyed the vacation in spite of the pain and discomfort, but these picture memories were nearly unbearable.
April 2007 was rock bottom for me. I was unhappy with my appearance and my health was declining. I thought about my weight nearly every waking moment. I was consumed with thoughts of wanting to lose weight, needing to lose weight, and yet not believing I could lose weight. I was morbidly obese!
It was time for me to finally make the decision to do something for permanent change. It was time for me to take charge and meet my goal of a healthy, happy family and a healthy, happy self a priority and a reality.
I hit the gym and a serious food plan hard in June. I've been at it ever since. Thankfully, my friends and family and the staff at Gold's are a huge help. The weight has come off relatively quickly. I've lost 134 pounds in 9.5 months and 22 pounds since the Gold's Challenge started.
I work out consitently 5 - 6 times a week - the cardio theater is my favorite! The inches and body fat percentage have come down too. I peaked out at 53.7% body fat! I'm getting close to under 30% and heading for my ultimate goal of under 25%. My pants size has also gone down from a humongous size 28 to a 12. Shopping in the "regular people section" is AWESOME!!
My healthy food choices and active lifestyle have become a habit. I believe I've finally made a permanent lifestyle change. I'm not quite to my goal, but for the first time in my life, I KNOW I will get there and STAY there. I'm training for a triathlon now - my local Gold's even has an awesome triathlon training program I've been attending for 4 weeks. I've come a long way since limping around Disney World in 2007.
Good Luck to everyone. If I can do it, anyone can!