Conditioning for Mt. Hood Summit

I've decided to start blogging again! I was just using my past to inspire others toward change, but now I'd like to encourage others, that once they achieve their goals to keep moving forward! Getting yourself to a healthy weight is just the beginning!

But first, let me fill you in on how my Health Coaching business has been going.....In January, my business just took off! My group of clients and my group of health coaches have grown every month. I love helping others get healthy, its the best job I've ever had-its very rewarding both financially, physically and emotionally. Waking up in the morning to a text from a client who lost weight, or today for instance, a client 1 lb away from her goal, is amazing. Physically it is rewarding because I am held accountable for my own weight by my clients! How can I help someone with their emotional eating or their addictions or holidays if I can't deal with it myself? Great accountability! I had a client email me yesterday to remind me to eat every 3 hours! Currently I am working with 35-51 clients.... (Some clients are in maintenance and only order every once in a while to restock on their favorite bars or oatmeal.) In April I am headed to Orlando for some amazing training, opened only to Executive Directors and above. I feel very privileged to get to attend. I hope that, if you are a client of mine, that you feel like you are my only client, that you always feel like I have time for you and that you never give up! I'm here for you and you are prayed for!

On to the Mt. Hood conditioning..........The month of March I began coming out of hibernation. The winter was long and depressing and I knew that I needed to get moving again. I began walking a couple miles a couple times a week, that gets boring real quick. So I moved it up to the Columbia River Gorge for some hikes. Not sure why, but we started out with Angel's Rest. 4.8 miles round trip, 1680 feet elevation gain. Why did we start there? I guess we needed to be reminded how out of shape we were. After hiking Angel's Rest, Roy and I were so sore that we could barely walk for 3 days. As soon as our legs healed, I hiked Multnomah Falls by myself, just to get outside. That is about 2.5 miles round trip with only a 700 foot elevation gain. I had that done in an hour, easy. Feeling confident again, Roy and I headed out to the Gorge again with our new map, not really knowing where we'd end up. We started at Horsetail Falls, just East of Multnomah Falls. Its a short hike, we were not aiming to out-do the previous weekend. Once we got past Ponytail Falls and hit the junction to Oneonta Falls, we decided to keep going. We met some other hikers returning from Triple Falls. So, we headed south, not knowing what we'd find. I didn't capture any fantastic photo's of the actual falls. There is no way my iphone camera could capture it and do any justice. In the end, we hiked about 4-5 miles and gained aprox. 1200 ft in elevation. I am proud to say we were not sore at all after that hike. So now we plan for the next one. We are experiencing some crazy wet weather this week so I will probably opt to take advantage of my gym membership this week rather than go back up to the gorge.

One note, if you are in to holding me accountable, it is really hard to do the 5 & 1 plan while training this hard. I am not sure how to do it and I really need to contact the nutrition services and talk to their certified trainer or nutritionist to help me come up with an eating plan.

I am put to shame by my father, who has not only surpassed me with his weight loss but has also surpassed me with his fitness level. He is bicycling everywhere, jogging 2-4 miles and not sweating a thing. Grrrr. I'll catch up eventually.

The reason for all this insanity? The last weekend in May, we (my dad, my husband, my son, my brother, my aunt and her friend) intend to summit Mt. Hood via the South Side. We are keeping the exact date flexible for the weather. 3 miles up, 5000 ft elevation gain and snow. This is going to be awesome and monumental, right dad? I'll write more on why this will be so 'monumental' (other than the obvious.... its Mt. Hood, right?) another time.

So here's to the Robinson family (Meet The Robinson's.... Disney Movie)....."Keep moving forward!" Once you reach your goals, make new ones! Never give up, never beat yourself up for your past failures and always strive to kick it up a notch!

~Charity

P.S. If you want to know more about how I've lost 120 lbs, gone from a size 24 to a size 10 (working on an 8 right now!), or how I've overcame my food addictions, give me a call or send me an email! I'd love to hear from you and share my story, no strings attached! husk7736@comcast.net 503-936-9728 or find me on facebook!

Take Shape For Life... Lowering my Dad's Blood Sugar

I received this email from my dad Monday. I am so proud of him! Dad signed up for Take Shape For Life and began in April. He lost about ten pounds and decided that this plan was working for him and he began to document his weight loss with a monthly photo shoot. So, here is April and May's side by side photo's.

Here is an excerpt from my dad's email.

It is exactly 7 weeks for me.

I am down 31 pounds now since the start. I am crazy happy about that.

That is down 7 pounds from last monday.

My blood glucose was 111 this morning. 8 weeks ago it averaged in the mid 150's every morning.

I am thrilled with both numbers and the progress.

Almost There!

Today is June 11, 2009. Its' been a while since I've posted here. I got into a routine with the Take Shape For Life plan and didn't see the need for journaling much anymore.

Since my last entry I've lost a few more pounds... :) Actually, My total right now is 82 lbs! The journey isn't over. For the first time in my life I feel like I can actually reach my wedding weight again. I've never felt there was any hope for that but it's only 43 lbs away.

I became a Health Coach in May. I had so many people asking me how I was losing the weight and I was unofficially coaching friends that were on the plan as well so I just decided to make it official. Its a very rewarding job. It also keeps me motivated to stick with the plan myself.

If you are interested in Take Shape For Life, if you are interested in losing 2-5 lbs a week with a safe, medically aproved weight loss plan, I'd love to help you. I'd love to apply my past 8 months of experience with you and encourage you along your journey. Please feel free to call me anytime at 503-936-9728 or send me an email at husk7736@comcast.net You can also visit my website http://www.myhealthybody.tsfl.com

In Health,

Charity Husk

Weigh In Day

November 18, 2008

I lost 4 pounds this week for a total of 17 pounds. Actually, It really could be 20 pounds. I know I’ve seen that number (my current weight plus 20 pounds) before. That’s so awesome. I am going to make my goal before Thanksgiving barring any unforeseen tragedies. I am averaging 4 lbs a week right now. So I have 5 weeks between now and Christmas. I could be down another 20 pounds before Christmas. If I continue on this course without fail, I could be down 69 lbs before the retreat! I realize this is all hypothetical and with the Holidays between us, anything can happen. But it doesn't hurt to dream! That is a huge dream. I need to exercise to help that dream along. I checked out the pool schedule for water aerobics yesterday. They only have like 2 or 3 days that I could attend between now and Christmas. I need to find something else until they open up their winter schedule in January. I have to see Amy tonight; I will inquire about the treadmill they’ve promised me. Things are a little bit tight financially right now so I don’t think joining a gym would be prudent. Man, why is exercising in the fall/winter so hard?

November 17, 2008

I have a busy week ahead of me; too much going on. I am in the process of trying to weed out a few things but I am not sure how to do all of that. The thing about this program is that I am not hungry most of the time so when it’s time to eat, I have to be conscious of it on another level other than hunger pains and cravings. It’s easy to skip meals or be late for them. That’s the big struggle of the week, making time for food.

I weigh in tomorrow. Today I am swollen up like a balloon so I’ll try to take some water pills today and drink a lot of water so I get a more accurate number tomorrow. I’m hoping for a big number.

Also I need to add another level to my new lifestyle. I know I’ve been talking about it but I need to turn it into action this week and begin an exercise program. Of course the forecast calls for rain this week so going for walks will be difficult. I’m not sure what to do for exercise. Maybe I’ll check out the water aerobics schedule at the pool while I’m there for Al and J’s lessons.

Yip, Still Chubby

This is a picture of me from the party this last weekend. I had this picture on Facebook earlier today and after looking at it for a while I deleted it. I was feeling so good about my weight loss but this picture shows I am clearly still very chubby. It was all the motivation I needed to forgo the pizza Roy brought home.

Back In The Saddle Again

November 16, 2008

I am sure I have written in my ‘journal’ since the 10th. I think I wrote in it and then didn’t save it or something. So here are the week’s highlights. I weighed in on the 11th. I was pretty proud of myself because I lost 2 lbs even though I struggled so bad the previous week. I am glad I stuck to my guns and didn’t make things worse eating pizza or popcorn.

I bought a few items of new clothing. Not because I am the incredibly shrinking woman, but because I just needed them. I was on the verge of having to go up a size before but now the next size up would’ve been like wearing clown clothes. That’s good.

Anyway, I survived my ‘dad’s party this weekend. I ran a whole ‘malt shop’ complete with whip cream and all the other works. I’m so glad I did it. I had the energy to do it too. My energy level has been in sane. I can hardly sleep more than 6 hours a night now and I can hardly sit still while I’m awake. I’ve obviously gone back into the ‘fat burning’ stage. I hope I keep burning fat. I stood on the scale Friday just to make sure Ii was doing stuff right and I lost another 2 lbs. Making my total 15 lbs right now. I’d also like to mention that I got a “Magic Bullet” mixer Friday. It’s made a world of difference to my shakes.