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BECOME YOUR OWN
SUCCESS STORY
 As a member, you will have a chance to submit your progress, as well as your personal story, for review by Bob and the Best Life Team. Members with the most compelling life changes will be selected to share their tale with members, expose before and after photos and inspire others to start living The Best Life.
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AGAINST ALL ODDS
Not even my husband knew when I'd reached 278 pounds. I was terrified to disclose that number; my self-worth was absolutely dictated by three digits on the scale. My struggle was lifelong; entries in my fourth-grade diary describe my fears that no one would ever like me because I was overweight But the real low came in 2000 when my son Ryan was diagnosed with two life-threatening brain tumors at the age of six months. He's eight years old now and has had 20 brain surgeries, six staph infections and four bouts of bacterial meningitis. Every time he enters the hospital, he's there for months. With the shunt the doctors put in his brain, it's a daily guessing game. In January 2001, Ryan had his third surgery. Since he couldn't leave his crib and I wouldn't leave him, our loving, well-meaning friends and family visited us at the hospital with every kind of comfort food imaginable – enchiladas, lasagna, takeout. I ate to relieve anxiety and stress and because I didn't know how else to cope. But that month brought what I call “my moment with God.” It just hit me like lightning that I had to change my life. I looked down on my baby son, who was confined to his crib, and even though he was far too young to understand that his mommy is a fighter, I decided I would walk and run for him, that I would be the best I could be for once in my life. I had to show Ryan how to fight. My mom gave me a copy of Bob Greene's Get With the Program! One of his insights had a phenomenal impact on me: “Holding on to extra weight may often serve as a person's unconscious anesthetic against stress, hurt, disappointment, pain, failure, and (sadly) even success, love, and romantic attention from potential suitors. It keeps many on the sidelines of life.” Bob helped me understand the commitment I needed to make to myself. Diet, strength and aerobic training, and healing your spirit – it's the perfect combination. Because Bob's program is in phases my transition into the plan was smooth. I cut out fast food, soda and alcohol immediately, and the pounds started dropping off. I began eating breakfast, increasing the amount of water I drank, and never ate later than 7:30 p.m. I started doing sit-ups, pushups and triceps dips and marching in place in my son's hospital room. When Ryan fell asleep, I began walking the halls. I would do lap after lap, crying my eyes out. The physical exhaustion from exercise not only detoxified my body, it detoxified my spirit. In July of that year I joined a marathon-training program with friends. When my friends went from walking to running in our training, I was still walking. But after six months and losing about 50 pounds, I ran my first marathon in January 2002: I ran the entire Houston Marathon clutching my son's baby blanket for strength. Since then I've run eight more marathons and nine half marathons, all in honor of Ryan. By 2005 I'd lost 90 pounds, and I've been at my ultimate goal, about 160 pounds, since 2006. My weight loss has been powerfully liberating. This is who I was always.  |
  EXCERPT FROM THE BEST LIFE
by Oprah Winfrey You cannot ever live the life of your dreams without coming face to face with the truth. Every unwanted pound creates another layer of lies. It's only when you peel back those layers that you will be set free: Free to work out, free to eat responsibly, free to live the life you want and deserve to live. |
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