Dear World

I'M OFFICIALLY A CERTIFIED PERSONAL TRAINER!!!!!!!

Looking for Love After Weight Loss

Is love in the air? Find out in my latest article!
http://ballston.patch.com/articles/looking-for-love-after-losing-it

Be Thankful- Not Just Full!

Happy Thanksgiving, be sure to check out my latest article in my column! Be Thankful- Not Just Full
http://ballston.patch.com/articles/be-thankful-not-just-full

Dinner for two

Wow, what an amazing dinner. First of all, I would like to take the time to thank facebook - despite its many annoyences (yes I'm looking at you Farmville Requests) it can be a truly amazing thing and tonight was proof of that. For those of you who don't know, tonight I had dinner with Bonnie Matthews - many of you know her has Bonnie from Dr. Oz and most of you are Facebook friends with her... which is how I became friends with her. Thanks to the little facebook featur that says " 48 of your friends are also friends with X, would you like to be their friends too?" Well if 48 of my friends were friends with this Bonnie person, then she must be really special. I didn't know her and she didn't know me but I quickly discovered that she has an amazing weight loss story of taking control of her life through healthy eating and wellness -she seemed like someone I could relate to so I've been following her on FB and watching her encourage people and her enthusiasm has been a constant source of inspiration. It never occured for me to ask where she lived until she had mentioned something about being in Baltimore and heading into DC and I was like HEY I live in Arlington! Next thing ya know we had dinner plans for tonight so thank you Facebook for bringing two strangers together! Now let me tell you something, spent two seconds on Bonnies FB page, among her many MANY fans and you instantly can read the passion this woman has for health and her enthusiasm in contagous - so much so that a large portion of the online weight loss community is participating in her Why Wait Get Bon Challenge but I wondered how much of that relays into the real world, I mean facebook is one thing, could she really be as energetic and electrifying as she creates herself on facebook? To be honest, I was a bit nervous meeting her for the first time tonight, I was worried that I had looked up to her and respected her and saw her as "the real deal" and I didn't know if she was going to live up to it... well let me tell you ladies and gentalmen, this woman is everything I thought she was and SO MUCH MORE! I spent most of the evning just caputed by energy. IT WAS INSANE. I am a firm believer in that there are some people who "get it" and some who don't and what I mean by that is that there are some people who have changed so that their entire life is focused on living and being healthy and then there are those who are in the diet or losing weight bussiness... people who "get it" keep their weight off and those who don't won't. She gets it and like me, she shares a passion to help others "get it" too. I spend so much time telling my story and trying to explain the hows and why of my choices so it was refreshing to have a conversation with someone who knows, she's done it herself and it was comforting to sit down with someone knowing that we shared that same journey. It was even more encouraging for me, who still has weight to lose, to know that the path I'm taking is leading me to my goals. I laughed so much tonight and sat in awe and had so many great conversations, I feel like I've been reminded of the beauty that comes from being healthy - Health comes not just in smaller jean sizes but in finding and cultivating healthy relationship with other healthy people. Tonight was amazing and I admire and respect Bonnie so much more... I cannot wait for our next dinner!

Who Will You Be?

Two women stand at the bottom of a steep hill, needing to get to the top. The first woman stands there and says " wow, this hill is so steep. I'm already tired. I'm gonna make it to the top, I gotta reach the top but its gonna take me a long time. I'm gonna be at the top any moment now..." and even though she talked about reaching the top, her feet never moved. The second woman knew it was going to take her awhile so she took small steps,putting one foot in front of the other and started moving up the hill until she reached the top. She looked down and saw the first woman still at the bottom talking about reaching the top. - Which woman are you? Don't be the woman at the bottom talking about what your gonna do, be the woman that keeps moving. It doesn't matter if your trying to lose weight or training for a marathon - actions speak louder than words so just shut up and do it!

The Final Test

The last in the series about race day! Be sure to pass it along to all of the Fat Runners you know and love!
http://ballston.patch.com/articles/the-final-test

Pushing Through It

Part two of the 3 part series on Race Day for me - Check it out and pass it along to all your fat running friends!
http://ballston.patch.com/articles/pushing-through-it-part-two-of-the-marathon-run

Meltdowns and Marathons

The first in a series of articles on Patch.com!

I'm a Marathoner!!!

I've joined the ranks of 1/2 of 1% of the world population... I'm a marathoner!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reaping the Rewards

Getting soo close! New article up on what it was like to go get my race packet today at the expo!
http://ballston.patch.com/articles/reaping-the-rewards

Race Day Throw Aways

I have a long sleeve shirt that I kept from before I started losing weight and I'm contemplating using it as my "throw away" i.e. clothing you wear while waiting to start running to keep warm and then toss to the side once you start running. If ever there was a time to get rid of it, then would be it... but a small part of me said hold on to it... check out my latest article to find out the fate of my brown shirt!

http://ballston.patch.com/articles/race-day-throw-aways

P.S.

I've dropped 4 pounds this week on tapering... HELL YES!

Running Towards a Victory

Running Towards a Victory - Check out my last Team run before race day!
http://ballston.patch.com/articles/running-toward-a-victory

Got sleep?

http://ballston.patch.com/articles/its-where-all-the-magic-happens

Earning the Uniform

A very personal and proud column for me to write. Check out my latest on earning the Uniform.

http://ballston.patch.com/articles/earning-the-uniform

As a side note, I want to thank you for all of your support and encouraging of my column, my boss and those at AOL are very pleased with the interest my column has generated so thank you for your loyalty!

Food for Thought

Read some recipie ideas from me and some food for thougt...about food! haha

http://ballston.patch.com/articles/food-for-thought-3

Getting Back on Track

Waiting for tomorrow to get back on track? Check out my latest column on getting back on track! There will be a follow up to this one with recipes!
http://ballston.patch.com/articles/getting-back-on-track

I've been Blogged about!

Some things come full circle and I feel like this is one of them. Through my friend and teammate Sharon, I've met Samantha who is on her own weight loss journey and like so many of us, she blogs about it. I had the privileged to sit and chat with her over the phone which she turned into a really nice blog. Thanks Samantha for letting me share my story!
http://sparklyandslimming.wordpress.com/2010/10/18/awesomeness-is-named-alexis/

Options

the latest article to my column on Patch.com Check it out!

Only $82 away!

We are now only $82 away from reaching the fundraising goal for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Make today the day you stand up to cancer by donating!
http://pages.teamintraining.org/nca/corps10/amundis

Only $207

I am only $207 away from my fundraising goal, please help me reach my goal TODAY by clicking the link to donate to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society http://pages.teamintraining.org/nca/corps10/amundis

You've been there and supported my journey to save my life, now is the chance for you to help save someone else's who's fighting cancer! Common everyone, we're so close!!

Breaking a Routine Without a Doubt

My new article with Patch media is up with video from the 20 mile run yesterday! Check it out and feel free to post comments!!! GO TEAM! http:javascript:void(0)//patch.com/A-Jrc

So much to celebrate!

On my way out the door to go celebrate with friends and there is SO much to celebrate tonight. My first article was published today ! YAY you can check it out at the link here!
http://ballston.patch.com/articles/the-fat-runner

And secondly, the biggest accomplishment of my entire training season... I ran 20 MILES today!!! 2-0 AHHH I'm so freakin proud of myself. That will be the longest run until race day... now I'm on a running taper where the miles are cut significantly to prepare my body for the full 26.2 miles. I love it!

The Fat Runner!

Today something amazing happened... I had an interview with Patch Media after work today, they found me by word of mouth through Team in Training and wanted to follow my marathon training so I agreed. I thought today I'd be sitting down with a reporter and we'd chat a bit about my weight loss and about team in training but what happened today was just about the most awesome thing EVER! I was asked to become the new voice of runners and weight loss for Patch Media... AHHHHH I still can't believe it! In less then 2 years I've gone from knocking on death's door from obesity to now I've been hired to talk about my experience as a runner and future marathoner... CRAZY!!!! What makes me excited the most is that I get to be a representative for Team in Training without them, I would not be who I am today. I got choked up twice today, once while talking about my first "workout" of struggling to walk around the block and secondly when I talked about what Team in Training means to me. I was asked why I joined team in training? and I gave the most honest answer. I said I joined at first for selfish reasons, I was being given coaches and support to train and I knew I would benefit from it but once I showed up and learned about the mission of Team in Training and spent time with my Teammates who have personal stories of friends, family, and even themselves that have fought blood cancers.... Team in Training stopped become something different, my goal stopped becoming to finish the marathon, it became about being a better Teammate, becoming a stronger advocate for the mission and sharing the spirit of Team in Training with everyone I meet. Tonight will be my first blog with Patch and I could not be more excited!

The Push!

Dear Friends,

Its finally here! After months of training, race day is only 3 weeks away. This Saturday I will run my farthest distance to date, 20 miles. It will mark the beginning of the end of my training for the Marine Corps Marathon. The past few days has been a big shift for me, my fears and trepidation have melted away to make room for excitement and anticipation. I started training 5 months ago with no experience in running - or any athletic activity. I didn't know much other then I wanted to see if I could run a marathon. Each week I learned so many new things about running but more importantly I learned so much more about myself. Never once did I quit or get distracted, I've fought back from both injury and illness and in a time when many would have gave up, I worked harder and the results are apparent. I've shaved off 3 full minutes to my pace time and often find myself saying things like " an easy 10 miles". Running is my true passion in life and the mission of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society is my purpose. Team in training, all of my team mates and coaches have been there to guide me and help me grow into the runner that I am today. Because of them, I have been asked to be a Mentor for future runners with Team in Training. I want to thank you for your support, your understanding and your encouragement. I am proud to say that I have raised over $1300 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and am only $554 away from making my goal. Training for this marathon has taken dedication, there has been blood, sweat and yes, even a few tears... and thats just to make it through the week! It has taken time away from my friend and my family and it has been the most physically and emotionally challenging thing I have ever had to overcome in my life... but none of that even can come close to the daily challenges of someone who's fighting blood cancers. My coaches, team mates and even strangers who recognize the Team in Training logo on my running gear share their story of how cancer has impacted their life and you can't help but to both feel humbled to know my work impacts other's lives and to feel driven to seek out every opportunity and seize every moment in life because life can never be taken for granted. I chose to adopt a new lifestyle so that I can live a healthy life, not everyone gets that choice and I run in honor of them. Please help me now push to the end and reach my fundraising goal ( link below) so that everyone has a choice to live cancer free.

http://pages.teamintraining.org/nca/corps10/amundis

Thank you for your support and as always, please feel free to come cheer myself and all of my teammates on at the Marine Corps Marathon Oct. 31st! And if you can't make it to Marine Corps perhaps you'd like to come watch my next marathon in January at Walt Disney world ( yeah thats right, two marathons in two months)!


Sincerely,

Alexis Mundis

THE BITCH HAD TO GO- A Tail of The Worst Running Partner EVER!

I don't ever like to talk badly about any of my teammates but after today, I really need to vent about the worst running partner ever - they've been there ever since I started running and when I joined Team in Training, I couldn't seem to get away from them. Even when I wasn't at practice, this partner followed me. We've been fighting for months and I keep telling myself I'm going to leave them but I didn't know how. My running partner told me I would never be able to make it, they've been a constant reminder of the pace requirements and of that damn bus ( if you don't maintain a 14 pace in Marine Corps they pick you up in a bus and you don't finish) and they're always telling me that I'm not going fast enough. I believed them.

My running partner slows me down on long runs and takes up my time when I'm on the trail. My running partner convinced me that I wasn't going to make it if my friend and mentor couldn't run the race this year and I bought it hook line and sinker. My running partner always tries to sabotage my training by telling me to not listen to the advice. The worst part is that my running partner has this way of making sure that I forget how far I've come this year. They constantly remind me of how much farther I have to go instead of letting me remember how far I've come. I had a fight with my running partner earlier this week and I knew it was time for us to go our separate ways but I really wasn't sure I knew how until I realized today that I'm the only one that can make them go away. My running partner's name is Doubt and THE BITCH HAD TO GO!

As soon as I let go of it all, my run was transformed. Suddenly next week's run didn't seem to long, that damn pace bus didn't seem like an issue and the first words out of my mouth after running 10 miles was " I'm not even out of breath!" The ride home we talked about the first 10 mile run we did, I was filled with so much anxiety over running double digits. by mile 3 I was complaining, by mile 6 I was begging for walking breaks and today 10 miles seems effortless. For the first time, I saw my progress with eyes unclouded by doubt and it was shocking. 18 months ago, I could hardly walk around the block, 5 months ago my pace was 17min.,I've never run longer then 3 miles without stopping for a break,and I couldn't run up a hill to save my life. In 5 months I've shaved off 3 min. to my pace time, dropped 30lbs and my longest run to date is 18 miles (that's only 8 miles away from my goal) and I ran up the biggest baddest hill in the Marine Corps race not once, not twice but THREE TIMES in one run!

I have transformed from someone who wants to be a runner into an actual runner. but the most amazing transformation has been my attitude and my perseverance. It would have been so easy to quit my first day when I finished 20 min. behind everyone else, it would have been the perfect excuse to drop out when I started a new job, it would have been a great opportunity to stop training when I had a hip injury or got sick. Instead I put my head down and worked harder, in a time when most would have quit, that is the time I put in extra time to get stronger. When I got scared and ran months with doubt in my head, I didn't buckle at the knees to it, I grew the courage to tell the worst running partner ever that THE BITCH HAD TO GO!

I am becoming the person I aspire to be and am reaching the goals I aspire to reach, it hasn't been a perfect journey but it has been a beautiful one. This is my month to reach an important milestone in my life and when I cross that finish line in 30 days, I will not be the same person I was when I started this all, I'll be a much better one!

P.S. I lost 6lbs this week - how crazy is that?!!?
Also don't forget to make your donations to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society by clicking the link below!
http://pages.teamintraining.org/nca/corps10/amundis

Being Tested part 2

So 18 miles of not having fun has to have you asking yourself -Why in the world would someone chose to do this if it was so awful?! What I'm about to say may have you thinking I'm CRAZY and I kinda am but Despite everything that went wrong today, this was my best run yet! Let me tell you why! My friend couldn't run today but she was there to cheer us on. I look to her for wisdom and guidence when we run because she's done it before, she's a pro and she always knows exactly what to tell me when I need to hear it. Sensing my struggle today, I had a teammate step in her shoes and she told me something that stuck in my head the entire time I wanted to stop, every moment I would get frustraighted at my body, every time I wanted to say FUCK IT I'M DONE! She said " Our worst runs can be the best runs because they test you and when you finish, you know you are mentally and physically strong enough to make it through even under the worst condtions so on race day - everything can go wrong and you'll think about this run and know you can still do it." She was right. It didn't matter that I finished an hour behind what I thought I was going to or that I felt the pain of running, expereibnced less then perfect hydration and nutrition because I made it through and I finished. Though there were many times I wanted to quit, I KNEW I could finish - even if it meant crawling to the end, I knew I had what it took to finish it out and that is a HUGE deal. I was tested today, tested by the conditions, the elements, my body and my mind but I came out of it knowing that everything can go wrong and I can STILL make it to the finish. I talked before about what a big lesson Team in Training has taught me about relying on myself and on others and today was just guilding the lilly on that lesson. For Ally to come cheer me on even if she couldn't run today, for all the words of encouragment from my teammates even as I struggled, for my pacegroup that stuck by me and to my Amazing coaches who I can never say enough great things about, for being there when I needed them, for taking care of me when I needed help - for reminding me to breath THANK YOU! But a special thanks is owed to Jen. Today I was tested in the longest hardest worst run in my life and yet it was the very best run I've ever done because today I found out I can handle it, even when its the worst I still got this! Thanks Jen for reminded me that the worst can be the best in any situation if you look for it!

Being Tested pt 1

I was being tested today in a BIG way! Everything about today's run was off- it started out with me getting to practice to find that two of my fuel bottles were unusable. I still had two left but I knew I needed to be careful with how much I was drinking. In case you haven't notices- I'm fat. Because I weight more, when I run I exert more energy and use up more nutrients then my slender running pals - in some cases I weigh double them! So when it comes to fuel - water, electrolytes calories - I need to consume more then the average joe! Back to my point. I filled my water bottles up at every water stop and even stopped twice at a public fountain for water and it still wasn't enough. Twice the water stop was out of Gatorade which is really important in terms of replacing salt lost. So not only was I running low on water - I now was running low on salt. Insult to injury, it was90 degrees outside today... thank God fall's promised cool weather is here... NOT! That only added to more sweating = more water and salt lost. When I run, I use GU electrolyte gel and it helps me replace calories I've burned off while running and I time it accordingly and I haven't had any problems using it at all, in fact I think it works pretty damn good but by the end, my blood sugar was dropping and I was already dehydrated and it was BAD. So just to keep score so far I'm both dehydrated AND running out of calories. So to add to the list of reasons why 18 miles sucked was i never found my groove! Its a given that the first 4 miles are going to suck, they always do but then my body gets warmed up and I start to feel the running mojo and things become easier... I never got to that point at ALL today. Every mile, from mile one to the very last felt like it was the longest mile I've ever run. I talked about some health issues I have been having- well thought I was having. See previous Blog! So I'm still searching for energy and after mile 2, I felt drained! By mile 13 I was exhausted and my feet were hurting and by mile 14 I was being tested. I was miserable and NOTHING about it was enjoyable. I felt like I had reached as far as I could go - I wanted to stop, I wanted to sit down. We kept going but by this time our pace had come to a crawl and by mile 16 I was having issues with just walking. the effects of dehydration and not enough calories become apparent and by the end of the run, I was shaking and ready to pass out - instead I sat down (HUGE MISTAKE)and all the muscles from my hip to my knee on my left leg seized up and I went into panic mode. I've never felt pain like this in my LIFE - and I've survived a car accident! My coaches rushed to my aid - one massaged my leg with something called "the stick" while another held me up as I was both standing and falling over at the same time and another rushed to get me food and drink to replace my electrolytes. It sounds just awful and if your contemplating ever becoming a runner, the first half of this blog probably isn't a great way to convince you of how great a sport it is... but luckily for you, there's a second part to this blog!

Being a Badass- An update about Lupus - or NOT!

Turns out my Lupus was not the cause of all my mysterious ailments, I had an undetected staph infection ( either from a bugbite or a running blister) which turned into Toxic Shock Syndrome and I had no idea!! First of all I didn't even know it was possible to get TSS from anything other then using tampons, which I don't use but apparently you can get it from staph infections and strep throat too! Anywho, the symptoms of TSS are mild fever, loss of energy, body aches, kidney failure and a rash - symptoms of a lupus flair up mild fever, loss of energy, body aches, kidney failure and a rash. I had all those signs but not even a trained medical professional could tell the difference. It wasn't until last week when a strange new symptom showed up that they could figure out what was going on -all the skin started peeling off my hands! The Dr said it was clear that I had TSS from this infection but that my body had fought it off and healed itself on its own! Peeling of the hands is one of the last stages of healing and apparently I've been sick for 2 months! It explains why my kidney's were showing signs of distress and why on the second test, they were returning to normal function. Now I wasn't worried at all, even after he told me the last stage is for me to lose my hair in a week or two ( I already have a shaved head so it doesn't matter) but when I got home I read some pretty scary stuff saying that 50% of people with TSS die!!! My Dr said it really was amazing that my body was able to heal itself and that I ran the whole time with it. I think its even more amazing that 2 years ago my immune system would have never been strong enough to fight that off itself - wanna know the even better news?! All my other tests came back perfect - blood sugar levels and even with running a marathon and working out, my inflammation rate (which is called a SED rate) was so low, it didn't even register. That means not only is my Lupus under control but that my body is physically able to handle what I've thrown at it. Whats this all mean in terms of training? I'm out of the woods now - no more infection - no fever - no kidney problems, just peeling hands! I feel like I've cheated death alot in my lifetime -especially the last few years and while I kinda feel like that should scare me, it doesn't. It only makes me appreciate life even more. For two months I had a 50/50 chance of waking up and dropping dead and without knowing it, I still was able to push myself to do some pretty amazing things. It makes me think of all my teammates who understand how fleeting life can be and who chose to challenge themselves in spite of it. One of my teammates called me a Badass today for training while being sick but to me, the real badasses are those teammates that have knowingly stared death in the face and fought back, those are the baddasses and they are the ones that inspire me to not sit and contemplate all the close calls in my life but instead get out and celebrate all the greatness!

Its just what I do

I forgot to write about my 15 mile run! Two weeks ago I was getting that anxious feeling that starts Thursday night and lasts all day Friday leading up to a long run. With each added mile I would think " Ok this Sat. may be the day I show up and everyone realizes I am not a marathon runner or even worse... this may be the run I realize I'm not a marathon runner" But each week comes and goes and that little voice of anxiety comes around when I check the running schedule on Thursday. So two weeks ago, I was due for my ritual anxiety when I realized that i was going to run 15 miles... the LONGEST I've ever done ever ( run or walk)- by 2 extra miles. I kept thinking of people who train as long as I have to complete a half marathon and now I was going to do a half marathon PLUS 2 MILES! It freaked me out but like always, I was comforted by my friends and coaches that I was ready for it. Everything started out great just like any other run... then I look down at my running watch and it said 12.98 miles and I started to breath a little faster and trying to calm myself down from the excitement knowing that I was about to pass a big milestone for me. I made it all the way to mile 13.5 feeling pretty good but then I started to feel the emotional weight of what I just did come over my body and there was a flood of feelings and questions that raced through my mind - I could have never done this before, can I do this now? Its a little habit of mine (that I'm trying to break)to go into self doubting and destruction mode whenever I get close to achieving something big. Its those moments when you start to notice how tired you are and how much your feet hurt and I began to slow down more and more and more, not because I needed to but because my emotions were slowing me down. It never seems to fail with Team in Training that when I need something, someone is there to provide it for me- a teammate comes back and says to me "Think about how far you've come and just keep going" - she also told me that I couldn't cry until I finished because it used up energy haha While I wasn't sure if she meant how far I've come in the run that day or in life in general but either way it was great advice because I spent the last mile of my run thinking of every step I've taken to get me to that point and then it was over- I had reached mile 15! I was so overcome with pride of what I've done, of what I did and of what I am going to do that tears welded up in my eyes - and my friend reminded me that I still had energy to run some more if I was crying - my how fast those tears can dry up! So why didn't I write about this massive milestone sooner? Well because its just miles - after that run I've stopped waiting for that moment when everyone realizes I'm not a marathon runner or for the moment when I realize I'm not a marathon runner and once I felt and believed that, 15 was just a number and this week is just 18. If I wasn't physically strong enough, my body would have stopped me long ago and if I wasn't mentally strong enough I would have quit long ago. I forgot to write about the 15 miles because its just a number and I am an endurance runner and its just what I do! :)

Its Not Online!

I woke up this morning pissed at all the people who sit online all day blogging about weight loss and facebooking and tweeting about it and about healthy living but they're only interaction with the world is through the internet... how is that healthy living?!? How does how many people who follow your blog make you an authority on wellness? How can people in one breath say how life changing weight loss is and yet have no real life interactions?!? I mean how many statuses do you read in a day about people going to work out, while they work out and everything after their work outs. Hell even I've thought to myself " gee I can't wait to get home and post this on facebook" That's sick... it isn't healthy. Its the most masturbatory act that is celebrated as selflessness " for being willing to share our journey" I call bullshit. I say its time to step away from the computer and make real connections in life - outside of the blogs and the chat rooms and the facebook friends. If your wondering where this all is coming from, I got an email from someone who complained that I don't participate in online weight loss forums or comment on other peoples blogs and that I give people unrealistic ideas about working out because a normal person cannot work out as much as I do or cook like I do because I have a lot more free time then most people" Which I find really interesting being that I have a full time job and volunteer and am studying for a certification and am in marathon training and am in treatment for Lupus and go to physical therapy for my hip... but clearly I have more time on my hands. And then it occurred to me that this same person that is giving me a hard time, is on facebook ALL THE DAMN TIME. I could totally comment on everyone's blog and be on top of all the forums if I spend all my free time online but I don't because I live in the REAL world where I interact with REAL people and make REAL meaningful relationships because THAT is what health is about - its about turning off your TV, shutting down the computer and LIVING LIFE. And if it seems like I have an abundance of time on my hands, its because I am organized and prioritize my life according to my needs. The average American watches 3 hours of TV a NIGHT! That's 21 hours a week -almost a full day spent sitting in front of the TV. I don't even own a TV. I choose to spend that time doing other activities so the next time you want to send me an email telling me what I'm doing wrong with my life, I suggest to take a step back and look at your own habits. Are you spending your life living online or in front of the TV? Do you rush to tweet about your latest accomplishment before telling your friends or family in person? Are you defining your success by the number of blog hits you get or the number of comments you make? How many real life connections do you have in your life and are they as meaningful as you want them to be? If not, if you find more meaningful connections with complete strangers online, then perhaps that's a good place to start finding some wellness in your life and when you go searching for your answers, here's a little clue... ITS NOT ONLINE!

I'm a Fighter - Its in my Blood!

Well in case you missed it - I have Lupus! I've been diagnosed for years now. For those of you - which will be most- that don't know what the heck Lupus is here is a quick explanation given by the Lupus foundation: Lupus is a chronic, autoimmune disease that can damage any part of the body (skin, joints, and/or organs inside the body). Chronic means that the signs and symptoms tend to last longer than six weeks and often for many years. In lupus, something goes wrong with your immune system, which is the part of the body that fights off viruses, bacteria, and germs ("foreign invaders," like the flu). Normally our immune system produces proteins called antibodies that protect the body from these invaders. Autoimmune means your immune system cannot tell the difference between these foreign invaders and your body’s healthy tissues ("auto" means "self") and creates autoantibodies that attack and destroy healthy tissue. These autoantibodies cause inflammation, pain, and damage in various parts of the body.


What does that all mean? Well it means my body fights itself and lets be honest here, that's no surprise since I've always been a fighter! I've fought against social injustice, against school boards, state legislators, doctors who said I could only lose weight with surgery, neighbors who said I couldn't be a runner and my constant fight against fat. Boxers and aggressive litigator say that fighting is in their blood... me too - but literally! haha Why am I sharing all of this with you? because for over a year now I've been off all the lupus medication and been doing so well. I had very few flair ups and no complications at all. My immune system was on the rebound after being wiped out by all the meds. Now and again I would feel tired or my hair'd start to get a little thin but it'd only last for a few days at most but this past week I've been experiencing the mother of all flair ups and I didn't even recognize it as Lupus ( because physical training has increased and naturally I'd be more tired and sore)but today a new sign popped up that landed me at the Drs and the news wasn't great. I have to be seen by the specialists ASAP and there's some question as to the health of my kidneys right now which totally freaked me out but then I remembered I am a fighter. I do not sit quietly and wait for things to happen in my life, I grab life by the balls and MAKE IT HAPPEN! Yeah the prospect on having to go back on steroids and imunosupressent drugs really sucks but I'll make it work and I'll make it fit into my lifestyle. No matter what the test results say, I plan to fight back hard and strong...because after all fighting is in my blood! :)

Please feel free to check out the links below to learn more about
what is lupus ? http://www.lupus.org/webmodules/webarticlesnet/templates/new_learnunderstanding.aspx?articleid=2232&zoneid=523

How's lupus affect the body?
http://www.lupus.org/webmodules/webarticlesnet/templates/new_learnaffects.aspx?articleid=2268&zoneid=526

Whats the Prognosis for Lupus Peeps? http://www.lupus.org/webmodules/webarticlesnet/templates/new_learnunderstanding.aspx?articleid=2238&zoneid=523

Events | Bob Harper from The Biggest Loser

Events | Bob Harper from The Biggest Loser Feel free to invite Bob harper to area code 22204!

The Finish Line

Life lessons learned today through marathon training TRUST - Trust that people can and do have your best interest in mind. Learn to recognize who those people are and surround yourself with them. Its ok to trust the people around me- no matter how many times I've slowed them down, made them stop and told them to just go ahead without you, they've never left me or ever made me feel bad for it. Its a good reminder of what healthy relationships look like and the value of being able to trust people on and off a running trail.

Know you are deserving of being cared for. I have amazing people who's priority is for me meeting my goals, manage my expectations for myself and value my health. Accepting care is a new thing for me and even though I may still fight it at first, I'm learning to be patient with it which brings me to the next lesson.

Patience - I have all the patience in the world with other people and NONE for myself. I injured my hip a few weeks ago and as soon as I got the all clear to start running again, I wanted to hit it full force... I counted the two weeks of waiting to hear back from the MRI as " recovery weeks" which to me was plenty of time... when in reality those two weeks I was still injured and not in recovery but still in injury mode. Being patient with myself as I recover has not been easy for me, in fact I think of all the running and training we've done - being patient has been by far the most difficult challenge for me!

Its not what I want - its what I need. Having to work harder to rebuild strength and having setbacks now and again when my body seems to fail from my expectations has been frustrating. Its only been today that I realized that its not my body failing me, its my expectations that were failing me. I didn't stretch enough before the run - because I was being impatient- and ended up getting an awful foot cramp which slowed me down towards the end. It hurt and I knew I had to be patient with my body until I felt like I could run again or finish. Its not what I wanted - to walk the rest of the way and end up half a mile short, but its what I needed.

Lastly - The finish line is not the goal! Everyone asks me what my goal is - in weight loss and in marathon training. As for running I always say " To finish" While I know that crossing the end will be a really great moment for me, its no longer my singular goal - i have many and they change from day to day, run to run and most of them I don't even realize are goals until I've reached them. Like today for instance: I ran the fastest mile I've ever done in my life... EVER. GOAL MET I recognized my physical limitations during the run and was patient with my body - even if it meant slowing down GOAL MET I learned to trust the people around me - GOAL MET I learned to be a good recipient of care from others GOAL MET. I thought the ultimate goal was to finish the race but training for me has been so much bigger than that - it is training me to succeed in life, it is preparing me to continue my fight against fat, it has taught me to value my choices to live a healthy life because not everyone is given a choice to be healthy. Its not about crossing the finish line - its not about being a certain weight - its about the journey that gets you there - that's the goal! ... but crossing the finish line on race day isn't a bad goal to keep too.

Redemption Run- making it happen.

i couldn't wait to come home and write this blog!

I DID IT!!!!!! Let me tell you first of all, I was totally tricked! haha well maybe not tricked but uninformed that when the coaches said " this week we'll be running the Marine Corps Marathon Hill" what they forgot to mention is that we would be running the Marine Corps Marathon Hill.. and then turning around and running it again... and then turning around and running it again. No I didn't stutter! Before we hit the trail we were left with this little gem to ponder. After coach said we'd be running the hill 3 times he said "The good news is that on race day you'll think hey, this is easy, we only have to do it once!" and like so many other times throughout the season, my inexperienced brain doubted the masters and thought YEAH RIGHT! Well we started the trail that was riddled with steep hills to start with thinking each time, is this the hill? nope what about this one? nope. Time was flying by and I was feeling so good. We were making really great time and chatting it up about some pretty deep stuff - life, love and nexflix.

We crossed the street and my running buddy/ friend/ mentor/ all around goddess turns and says this is it. I looked and it didn't seem too bad, a little steep. So we started running up the hill and when I thought we were at the top, we turned the corner only to find and even steeper and twice as long part of the hill. I was praying to make it up the once... three times?! I was convinced that the coaches had misspoke and meant that doing the hill once would FEEL like we had ran it three times... but unfortunately I had heard them right! Up the hill, down the hill up another "smaller" hill down that hill and we're back at the water stop... really? Wow that wasn't so bad but now I had to do it two more times.

I refilled my belt, ate some gels and back on the trail we went for round two. This time the 1.5 miles to the start of the hill seemed a bit easier - maybe because I had just ran up Mt Olympus and now these other hills seemed insignificant. We attacked the hill at the start but quickly found ourselves walking up the hill but we were in good company because even the fastest runners were walking on round two. Then as if the hill got magically shorter, we were back at the water stop and I was feeling FANTASTIC.

We set off for the last and final trip and everything was great until i found myself at the bottom of that damn hill again and I thought to myself " God I can't wait till race day when I only have to do this once!" hmm... funny because unless exhaustion is setting in, I was pretty sure that 2 hours ago I had thought to myself that I'd never be saying something like that and yet here I was, saying it. ( Side note, pretty much this whole season i hear what the coaches say, think " no way!" and then quickly am shown that they've never been wrong! I'm not just saying that to flatter them although I think they all rock, but its so true. They anticipate things that I can't even fathom and prepare me for things that I would never have thought would occur physically and mentally and its pretty amazing to have a team who's sole purpose is to make sure I'm prepared and today I was reminded of that as I said " God I can't wait till race day when I only have to do this once!")

Our last round up the hill was a little rough and I was feeling tired, we had been running for 2 and a half hours and had about another half hour to finish. Standing at the bottom was like having a bad nightmare over and over again. There was a sense of bitterness that this was the 3rd time I'd have to revisit the worst part of the run but we rounded the top, came down to the water stop and thanked god for not having to run that hill one more time. The last quarter mile was rough for me, my hip was starting to hurt, I was tired and hungry and ready to be finished and even though I walked it, I never gave up or let the trail of tears make me a victim and I finished with my head held so high. I did it, I completed one of the hardest trails we'll run on. I came home sore and tired but with the biggest sense of accomplishment I've felt in a long time. I fought the trail of tears and today, I won! If your reading this and thinking you'd really like to feel that same sense of accomplishment, you can start today by donating to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and be a part of the solution for millions battling blood cancers! http://pages.teamintraining.org/nca/corps10/amundis

An Ode to Fall

On my walk home from work today, I was struck by a cold snap of the wind as the trees swayed against a clouded backdrop and I realized fall was on its way! People are often surprised when I tell them Fall is my favorite season ( With my undying love for Hawaii, most people guess summer) Fall was the one time I missed the mainland and after not seeing it last year, you can imagine the excitement I felt when I heard Fall whispering in the wind today.

From the time that first gust of cool crisp wind whispers in the hot late summer nights to the very first snowflake, I am in heaven. What is there not to love when nature provides us with a spectacular color show as bright greens fade into a thousand shades of yellows and oranges and reds and browns. The clouded skies provide the perfect screen in which to witness the glorious show and seems to add to the vividness of the jeweled leaves. I love watching the leaves drift slowly from the branches and dance in the wind with more grace then I will ever poses. The wind, oh the wind! There is something magical about the winds of fall, the still crispness of the chilled air that seems so clear and clean and the crack of the wind that encourages you to spend just a few seconds longer tucked in your bed in the morning. Its not just the weather, its everything that fall brings... the sounds and smells and memories. Fall reminds me of camping with my family, wandering around the falling leaves searching for bobtwitches ( don't ask)in the same woods that my mother visited when she was growing up and snuggling into a warm sleeping bag with the smell of the campfire lingering on my clothing.

Fall reminds me of my grandfather who lives in a place where fall is a 7 month season. When I went to visit, He'd take me to the canyon covered with green trees and we'd look for the one tree who's leaves were starting to change color and then he'd tell me I was the first to see fall coming. I still like to believe that I'm the first to see fall each year.

The whole country is transformed by this season. While I hate watching football, I love that people wait all year for fall to come around so that they can dress themselves in their team's colors, gather together Sunday afternoons and bond with complete strangers over a game. It reminds people to take pride in something and to bond with a community be it around a TV, in the high school bleachers or in the nose bleed section of a stadium. For a few brief moments we forget our differences and come together for the love of a common good. Somehow it becomes the perfect time for families to just play together tossing a football back and forth in their front yard, coworkers and neighbors playing impromptu games in empty fields on the weekends - football season reminds us to take time to play.

Lets not forget the holidays that fall brings. I still get excited getting dressed up on Halloween. Chocolate bars and candy apples and late night parties where children are wide eyed with all the goods they snatched up from strangers who generously dole out treats. Halloween always marked the time when my family ( aunts uncles and all) would get together and spend an hour being scared ( or scaring each other) at a haunted house and then spend the next 11 months teasing the person that screamed the most until the next year when it became someone else's turn to be scared.

Thanksgiving is the only holiday in which being thankful is enough reason to celebrate in grand proportions. Families and friends gather to honor traditions that have been passed down a long lineage of Americans - special recipes, heirloom blessings, and the right of passage of cooking your first turkey dinner. My job as a kid was to tear up the bread for the stuffing and to this day, I can't tear a piece of bread without it reminding me of me at my grandmothers side tearing the pieces just right for her stuffing wearing an apron shes made herself and feeling honored to be a real chef just like her. Fall brings us crisp sweet apples, ruby red pears of cranberries, voluptuous pumpkins and gourds and the most heart warming bouquet of spices and herbs - cinnamon, cloves, sage, thyme, bay!

There is something about Fall that draws us closer to our friends and families, closer to our communities and our neighbors. The cool weather draws us in to warm fires and hearty meals shared with the ones we love. From the first whisper of fall to the very first snow flake, Fall is a reminder of everything I love in life!

Redemption Run on The Trail of Tears!

Today is a rest day - so much so that I didn't even wear my bodybugg so that I wouldn't be tempted to try and hit my daily target. Why? Because every Sat. is our long training days and its SOO important in training that you give your body a day of rest before hitting a long run after training all week. Its also really important to "carb up" I'm going to be running for 2 and a half hours straight and its really important to have lots of glycogen stored in your muscles. Tonight dinner will be a big bowl of whole wheat pasta and some veggies ( no cream sauces or cheese - even veggie cheese) and I've been munching on carbs all day.

While I'm usually good about gearing up for long runs, I've been paying extra special attention this Friday because this run is a BIG DEAL for me. First of all, its the first time I've run this long since my knee injury 8 months ago. But mostly its a big deal because of what happened last time i was on the trail. I don't know the actual trail name, we refer to it at Team in Training as "the Washington and lee high school trail" because we meet at the Washington and Lee high school to connect to the trail.

The trail itself is a part of the Marine Corps Marathon... not just a part of but is arguably the most difficult part - the HILL. So why is this a redemption run for me? To understand you have to go back a few weeks to when we were all gathered in the parking lot of the Washington and Lee High school stretching and getting ready for our run. I was paying extra attention to my stretching since I had had a bad run in the middle of the week that week that left me with hip pain. As we stretched, one of the mentors shares with us this little bit of knowledge that shaped that day's run for me. She said " you know we call this the Trail of Tears because every year this trail breaks someone and they cry" I thought to myself how silly! Surly not EVERY year someone cries.

So we head out onto the trail and there were issues right away, I had to stop and go to the bathroom at mile 2 and told my pace group to go head without me. So they went on their way and I stopped to pee and hit the trail again but now that pain in my hip had returned. With each step it got worse and worse but I was making up ground and had almost caught up to my group but once I hit the turn around, the pain was unbearable and I had stopped running and was now hardly even walking. Along comes coach Charlie and he asks whats up and I burst into tears... TEARS! I knew I had to stop running and get my hip checked out and he confirmed that for me but I kept saying " I've never not finished a run" and at mile 6, I only had 4 more miles to go but I knew i needed to stop. On my ride back, now unsure if my running season was going to be over for me or not, I kept thinking DAMN YOU TRAIL OF TEARS!

Well the good news is that it wasn't a stress fracture like everyone- including my Orthopedic surgeon first thought it was and after physical therapy, I was cleared to go back to running again. Flash forward to this week, my first full week of training after two weeks of modified training and I'm feeling great so why am I taking all these extra precautions this Friday? Because like every Saturday of my life, tomorrow is a long run and its on none other than the Trail of Tears! I've been telling myself ever since I got the OK to run that this run was going to be my redemption run, the run that I refuse to be the victim of the Trail of Tears. I'd be lying if I didn't say a small part of me is nervous, I mean it DID beat me once but I know that this time around, nothing stands in my way. This time around there won't be tears, only sweat!

Sometimes Failing is What You Need!

After what seemed like months of just not putting in the effort I finally got my groove back. Back to eating the way I need to, back to working out the way I need to. I feel like my fire's been lit again and its all because I failed! Yep I failed! A few weeks ago I ordered Bob Harper's new workout DVDs. I've been dying to try them and couldn't wait for them to come, Like a kid waiting for Santa. I haven't consistently put in the workouts in months ( besides marathon training), here and there I would hit a streak of swimming or the occasionally dusting off of the BL bootcamp DVD. I went for weeks of not counting or tracking my calories and even went for days eating the "Phelps Diet" haha and it never occurred to me that there was a problem because I wasn't gaining weight. Well I'd gain 2 lbs and then lose them and then gain a few more and then lose them right away. It was a comfortable lifestyle eating whatever I wanted, doing whatever I wanted. In case if your wondering- this is not the failure part!
Flash forward to 3 weeks ago when I was sidelined at training because of a hip injury. I had a conversation with one of my team mates who's lost 65lbs but was finding herself much in the same spot I was and she told me she's decided to go back to the nutritionist because she " realized that she is no longer comfortable at that weight and it was time to change that" I thought to myself good for her and that was the end of that conversation.
That brings me back to my Bob DVD's... after so much anticipation, they finally arrived and I could not wait to try them out. ( For those of you who do not know, I am an avid supporter in Bob Harper, not because of The Biggest Loser but because his book " ARE YOU READY" is what started me on my journey and his emphasis on health as a whole -mind body and spirit is what has made me the person I am today) Any who, I stretched, tore open the packages and popped in a DVD called simply enough STRENGTH... "your going to die-with weights" would have been a more fitting title.
In the beginning Bob looks straight into the camera with his steel eyes and says " Its no longer about what you want, its about what you need" That phrase hit my heart like a lightning bolt. I was so stunned by it that I stood there unable to press play, puzzled by why what he said stopped me dead in my tracks. When I finally did start the DVD I lasted an entire 15 min. in the hour long workout. At the end of 15 min. I couldn't go anymore and I quit. I knew quitting was failing but it was very clear to me that my choices to not workout has left me weak, it has left my core weak, my upper body weak and most importantly it has left my mind weak. I sat on the floor and I kept hearing what my teammate said about her own weight loss journey " I'm no longer comfortable where I'm at and it was time to change it"
I quickly realized that I was no longer comfortable in this lifestyle I've adopted of counting calories when I wanted to, eating healthy if I wanted to, working out if I wanted to. And that's when I realized why I was so shocked at Bob's intro to the DVD. For months I've been doing what I want to do. A part of it has come from cockiness, knowing that if I WANTED to lose more weight, I could. Part of it came from being in an unstructured environment and the rest, simply just laziness.
That moment sitting on the floor, failing to even make the half way point on a workout DVD I knew it was no longer about what I wanted, it was what I needed. I am happy so say that I have been giving myself everything I NEED this week and it feels so great! Its like you forget how great you can feel when everything is in balance with each other. And when I felt temptation creeping up on me in at the bakery with all the fresh bread, I find it so much easier to keep on walking when I tell myself " Its not about what I want, its about what I need!" When you listen to yourself and give yourself what you need, everything else falls into place. Trust the process and remember that its no longer about what you want, its about what you need... even if what you need is to fail!

Not Afraid

Say what you want, love him or hate him but this song is nothing more than a battle cry for anyone who's ever had to wake up every day and fight for something. It doesn't matter if your just starting out or are close to a goal weight, we all wake up with the odds stacked against us and its really up to us to decide if today we are going to fight back.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5-yKhDd64s&feature=av2e

Loving My Village

I haven't gone away! Things have been CRAZY on my end, to catch everyone up, in a matter of what seemed like seconds - marathon training took off, I got a new job and I moved into my own place and I just got internet YAY! Marathon training has had a few hiccups. I had a stress fracture scare with my hip but an MRI revealed it was Bursitis and a lot of muscular weaknesses on top of a really bad over pronation in my gate! Thats a lot of stuff to work out but I'm glad I found out now and not a month before race day! I've been waking up at 4am to put in an hour and a half of physical therapy before work and its been working wonders. Today is my first day using the corrective inserts in my running shoes to correct the over pronating and so far so good. I spent two weeks not running and am having a little bit of a difficult time getting back on track. Last night was supposed to be a 4mile run and I was just too tired to do it so I cooked some healthy meals and went to bed early instead... not a bad choice if you ask me! As for my job, I LOVE it. I'm the membership and continuing education coordinator for the National Cancer Registrars Association. In a matter of days I got signed up to train with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and I landed a job at NCRA so I guess you can say fate took me into the business of kicking Cancer's ass. For awhile, a long while, my food choices were CRAZY, it was like I totally forgot how to eat normally. I think a lot of it was the stress of being unemployed for what seemed like years ( but wasn't really that long in the grand scheme of things) and then all the sudden have everything explode in my life - in a good way but an explosion none the less. I am so happy to say that after weeks of bad choices, I'm finally back on track. Beyond being on track with food, I'm on track mentally which is where the food issues start to begin with. I haven't done a progress pic in awhile so its on this week's list of things to do. Saturday's long run is only 8 miles but next weekend it goes up to 14... that means I'm over half way there! Its crazy to think that I could just wake up and go finish a half marathon no problem... that's pretty mind blowing!! What really kills me is that I'm getting FASTER! I've cut off 2 min. on my pace time which is just crazy since I'm running twice the distance... I can't say enough how much Team in Training has helped me from the coaches to the mentors and my beloved pace group that ignores me when I start to bitch and pushed me when I wanna slow down. They say it takes a village to raise a child, well I believe it also takes a village to train for a marathon and I LOVE MY VILLAGE!

Everyone wins!

Looking to start your own weight loss journey? Have questions about how I lost 220lbs or got started training for a marathon? Need some tips on getting past plateaus or just need some encouragement? Here's your chance!

I'm offering a 30 min. private session where you can ask and receive healthy lifestyle and weight loss advice via phone or web to anyone who donates $30 or more to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Help yourself while helping others, everyone wins! Go to the link below and after you donate, I will contact you to set up a time!

http://pages.teamintraining.org/nca/corps10/amundis

Weekend of Change Challenge

I am challenging you to make better choices while helping others this weekend... how?! How many of us have a coffee a day? or a soda habit? Its the weekend, who's having a empty calorie martini? Anyone got the urge for a happy meal?! Well don't! I challenge you to skip one costly unhealthy habit, be it a fast food meal, your favorite pint of ice cream, or even a pack of smokes and donate that money you would have spent to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Not only will you be helping yourself out by making a better choice for you, but you will also be helping out millions of others who just wish to have the chance to be healthy. I can't wait to see how much it adds up on Sunday night!

CLICK HERE TO "DEPOSIT" YOUR WEEKEND CHANGE!

Team in Training!

Well I've talked about it and its finally happened... I'm officially registered for my first Marathon!!! I'll be running in the Marine Corp Marathon on October 31st. That in itself is amazing but the BEST part is that I am now a part of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training which allows me to train and complete the marathon while raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. That is such a special opportunity for me because losing weight saved my life and because of it, I now can help save the lives of others by raising funds for research AND I will reach a personal goal at the same time. Some of you have been with me through my entire weight loss journey while others have just joined me but no matter how long you've been supporting me, I'd like to ask you all to join me in this new and exciting journey I am taking. My fundraising goal for this year's race is $3,500 ... does that number ring a bell in anyone's head? You have to burn 3,500 calories to lose 1 pound of fat and so my goal is $1 for every calorie it takes to lose that pound. I'm asking that you get your friends and family involved to help me reach that $3,500 goal. Please visit my page to make donations and check my progress by clicking this link http://pages.teamintraining.org/nca/corps10/amundis or by donating directly from my blog!




Thanks for your continuing support!

Lex

Lift Your Head Up to See

I read a lot of weight loss blogs and there's one thing that really annoys me about them... why is it that everyone waits until the week they've gained weight to talk about " its the journey that counts" but as soon as they lose some pounds its back to being " woohoo weight loss!"?!? Its like they're walking around with their eyes looking at the ground and it isn't until they run into something that they decide to look up. Let me tell you something, it is about the journey no matter if it was a good week on the scale or a bad week. I had a fantastic week on the scale with a 4lb loss and yes thats exciting but it wasn't the highlight of my week, not even close! The highlights of my week was taking time to put together outfits to wear this weekend that looked nice on me and get the nails done... That might sound odd but for the first time in my life, I am seeing myself as someone worthy of taking the time to look nice. Those are the things that don't show up on the scale. Health is so far beyond what the scale says. Its who we are, its who is around us and how we interact with the world. We cannot forget this and only remember when we're not successful on the scale. If your not focusing on healthy relationships, healthy environments, healthy families, healthy communities then your missing the big picture. I said this once, I'll say it a million times, Only 5% of people who lose significant weight will keep it off... 5%! If you want to be in that 5%, you need to lift your head up and see the bigger picture long before you bump into something!

Food for Thought

Anyone who knows me know that I am a firm believer that healthy food IS flavorful food and nothing sums that up more than my recent trip to the International Vegetarian Food Festival at the Capitol Memorial Church in DC. I guess I’ll start out by saying that I got there on a whim. A friend of a friend cut out a little ad posted in the Washington Post about some vegetarian festival. My friend casually mentioned that she had wished she could go. There was little detail other than the address and starting time so I thought I would go and check it out, not knowing what I was getting myself into. Boy was I pleasantly surprised!

The International Vegetarian Food Fest is like taking a trip around the world to eat. The congregation of the Capital Memorial Church come from all over the world and share a deep history in their food and a passion for health and life. At the festival, members of the congregation prepare dishes that come from their native countries, their family cookbooks and their own kitchen pots and serve them up for all who come to try. I will admit I was a bit overwhelmed at first.

There were halls divided into regions and in each region there were many dishes to try. The regions were Africa, Asia, India, Caribbean, North America, Latin America and Europe. Some countries shared recipes that just happen to be vegetarian ( like the many different takes on rice and beans or curry) while others put a vegetarian twist on a traditional recipe (like Tofu Pacit from the Philippines or baked empanadas filled with TVP). But no matter how they served it up, no dish lacked flavor. I use a lot of spices in my food and I love to come up with different combinations but I can honestly tell you I learned more in the 3 hours I spent at this festival than I have in the years of playing around in the kitchen.

Each food dish had a new and different flavor combination., a play on spices that I hadn’t thought of. The few that truly stand out in my mind is the Ginger Beer in the Caribbean ( it uses ginger, cinnamon, clove, bay and Vanilla) Black beans in Latin America ( that uses carrot, eggplant and other veggies!) and a Split Pea sauce from Ethiopia. I loved seeing how each culture can take something so humble as a bean and put their own flavor spin on it to turn it into a dish so unique of that country. Of course I didn’t leave without picking up a copy of their recipes which I can’t wait to start recreating in my own kitchen.

While I left very full, I have to say the most incredible thing about today was talking to everyone there. Those who made dishes had such pride in the food they were serving. It is more than food, it is their history that they were sharing. There wasn’t a “you must convert to being a vegetarian” message, in fact I didn’t really hear anyone talk about being a vegetarian at all. I did hear them talk about being happy to share their food and being thankful to get to meet new people in the community. I left Capitol Memorial Church full, excited at all the new things I had gotten to try, and feeling like I had just spent an afternoon with good friends.

The lesson here today is healthy living is about eating food that tastes great AND is great for you, its about working towards a healthier community, be it from sharing your food or just reaching out to talk with one another. There is a connection between what we eat, how we live and who lives around us and this event was a great reminder of that. Thank you to everyone at Capitol Memorial Church and to everyone who has been a part of this online community. Lets keep our community strong and out commitment to healthy living even stronger! P.S. I’m already gearing up for next year’s Festival, who’s joining me?!

It may not seem that big to you...

Today something great happened, I hit two major milestones for myself... I did a legitimate push up (5 of them to be exact) and I did a full bridge pose. Now that might not seem like anything big to you except its been a year long process to be able to do it! When I started out, doing a wall push up was HARD I could do 5 and then started to get tired - a few months later I graduated to knee push ups and then onto a million and one variations of the knee push ups but it took me a year to build up enough strength to do a full push up. I was good at the pushing up part, it was the lowing back down and coming up again that got me every time so I've been practicing and practicing .

Along side my push ups, I've been working on a bridge. Now push ups the strength comes from your arms. A bridge requires strength in your arms, your legs AND flexibility in your spine. I've worked hard on all of those individual elements and started to try and put them all together now for a few months and I know it looked pretty crazy. Even I got a good laugh from it but I kept trying.

Now is a good time for me to tell you about my friend Tracy. If you think I'm stubborn, this chick doesn't know the word no and " can't" is not on her vocabulary list either. Throughout all of my attempts to do a push up or a bridge, she has been there to tell me to keep trying and keep practicing. And when I would get really close, she would say good, not make it better! So today, like every day, I practiced my skills and what do you know, I knocked out 5 legitimate push ups as if my body had been just waiting to do them. I was SHOCKED and excited.

A years worth of work and I was now pushing my own body weight. So then i stretched and got ready to practice a bridge. I've been so close for a few weeks now and I just knew it was only a matter of time before I could bend that extra half inch and get my head tucked under... and today was the day! Now doing push ups was enough to make me so happy but being able to achieve two major goals in one day... two things that I've worked on over a year... that was magical! It may seem not that big to you but being able to work so hard for something and achieving it changes you in a way that nothing else can.

Of course I couldn't wait to tell Tracy, I mean she's been there encouraging me the whole way. And in typical Tracy fashion, her response was " now do a one handed push up and be able to go into bridge from a mountain pose" haha which was a reminder that YES it is great achieving your small goals but always strive to do better. Push ups and bridges may not seem that big to you but to me, today was a year in the making! Oh and hey, thanks Tracy!

No Man's Land

In war, there is a space between enemy lines, a space where no side has claimed as theirs…it merely exists as No Man‘s Land. Funny thing is that weight loss has the same space which up until now, I have been calling weight loss purgatory. This unclaimed space is where people who once were obese but aren’t quite thin yet live. I, having been newly introduced to this weight loss no mans land , am sending you a blog-postcard describing what its like.

I am neither obese nor thin. I spend my time having to find clothing that both fit my slimming upper body while dealing with the massive extra skin that hangs down under my belly but still trying to fit my much more slimmer thighs and legs, which means that I buy both “regular” clothing and plus size clothing depending on the cut, the style and how it fits around my belly flap. Along those lines, ladies in weight loss no mans land, you will find that bra sizes do not exist for you. I have a smaller rib cage measurement and not a lot of boobs left but a lot of extra skin on the sides so you will need to go up a cup size and down a band size and if you lucky to find that they have something that fits, then you will need to find one with wide sides to hold everything in… GOOD LUCK!

In weight loss no man’s land you are treated differently. Your overweight friends look at you differently because you don’t quite look like them any more but your skinny friends haven’t really adopted you into that “club” You can’t swap clothing with ANY of your friends. At any weight, people’s judgment of you hurts but in no man’s land, it can be extra harsh. Being super obese, most people wouldn’t dare say anything to your face about your weight and if they do, its with an understanding that you have an illness. Being in weight loss no man‘s land, people assume that you are overweight because of carelessness or laziness and somehow they have a right to tell you.

I can honestly say that at 426lbs, no one EVER said to me at the grocery store “ oh you shouldn’t be buying that” and yet 200lbs later in weight loss no man’s land I’ve been told not once but twice while looking at the frozen fruit ( which happens to be next to all the frozen pies) that I shouldn’t be buying pies. Why thank you stranger for providing that acute observation! I learned two things, fat people are only allowed to buy certain foods AND when I’m skinny, I too can tell strangers what they should and should not buy! But of all the minor annoyances of weight loss no man’s land, what takes the pie (haha) is telling people how much weight you’ve lost.

Now I LOVE talking about my experience in hopes that it will encourage others to live a healthy lifestyle but things seem to have changed the past few months. Before, I could tell someone “ Oh I lost 50lbs” or 75lbs and the reaction would be THAT’S GREAT keep up the good work. But now, when I tell people that I’ve lost over 200lbs, they get this confused look on their faces which clearly reads BUT YOUR STILL FAT?!?! I often find myself quickly adding that I started out at 426 lbs which leads to an even greater look of horror as they wonder how in the world did you get to 426lbs. Which in a way is understandable, most people don’t have 200lbs to lose and when you do see people that have lost that much, they are on the cover of magazines or on the Biggest Loser finale coming out thin as a rail.. Then there’s me, 200lbs lost and stuck in weight loss no man’s land! Its starting to feel a bit lonely here in purgatory, anyone else here too? If you are, please come find me! I’m the not obese not thin girl looking at the pies in the frozen section of the grocery store!

Lots of ladybugs

Some of the best advice I've ever received came from a sappy romance movie "Under The Tuscan Sun" In the movie, one of the women tells a recently divorced and VERY depressed woman a story, she says when she was little, she would spend ours chasing ladybugs but could never catch them. Eventually she just become so exhausted she would just lay down and fall asleep and when she woke up, she was covered in ladybugs. It doesn't matter what your frantically chasing, be it weight loss, a job, a dream. Sometimes the best thing to do is just be still for a moment and it will come. There is a process to life and to quote my favorite person Bob Harper " JUST TRUST THE PROCESS!"

Pick Up and Keep Going

Well this blog was supposed to be written yesterday and it was going to be written about setting goals but that will have to wait! As many of you know, I had a running accident yesterday. My shoe caught two brick tiles that were buckled up and it threw me onto the pavement. I ended up taking a trip to the ER to get my wrist checked out because it was questionable if I had broken it but I am glad to say it was not. I came away with road rash covering my left leg, a scrapped up right knee, a bruised hip, roadrashed hands, and badly sprained wrist haha I like to think of them as battle scars! There is a big lesson here -which is why this blog is not about goal setting! When I fell, there was a bus full of people coming home from work. As soon as I hit the pavement, I looked around to see which valiant person was going to come to my rescue and help me up... and to my shock ( and horror) no one even motioned towards me or called to see if I was alright. I was clearly injured and yet no one offered me help. I sat there for two seconds in total shock and then it hit me harder than I hit the ground, I AM HERE TO PICK MYSELF UP AND KEEP GOING, its going to hurt but it had to be done. While the fact that no one seemed at all concerned was a bit rude, it was not a statement of helplessness for me. I knew I had to pick myself up and get moving back home where I could then tend to my wounds and sitting there waiting for someone else to come help me was wasted time that I needed to spend taking care of myself. Everyone falls in their life, be it on pavement, on their diet plan, financially or in any other aspect of life. Too often we waste time looking around for someone to come pick us up but the reality of it all is that its just waisted time when you can do it yourself. It may hurt but you can do it! I didn't wait for a TV show, some crazy medical intervention, or until I could afford a gym membership and personal trainers to take back my life and you shouldn't either. I was out running yesterday because I was having an awful day and while it might seem like falling and having to go to the hospital would have made an already bad day even worse, it turned out to be a great reminder that in all of life's problems, I am here to pick myself up and keep going even when it hurts... I always seem to find the answers while running!

A SHUT UP and PUT UP weekend

What an amazing weekend! My friend and I spent our Easter weekend in what would turn out to be a SHUT UP AND PUT UP camping trip in Luray VA. While I have always grown up camping, this weekend was a lot of firsts for me. It was the first time I had kayaked and the first time I tried repelling. I went into this weekend with alot of worries, I didn't know if I was strong enough to hold my own bodyweight in repelling or that I would have the endurance to paddle 13 miles down a river or be able to keep up on the hikes. There are a million and one reasons why I should have those fears, I'm still overweight, I have an injured knee , a huge fear of heights and I'm having some Lupus problems. All of those are great excuses on why I wouldn't be able to do what I did this weekend. Yet when the time came and the harness was on, I just clipped in and went over the edge. All of that worrying about not being strong enough almost stopped me from even trying and I knew that I would just have to dig down deep, SHUT UP about all my excuses as to why I might not be able to and PUT UP. Boy am I ever glad I did! I loved repelling and cannot wait for the next time I get to harness up! This is coming from a woman who a year ago was challenged to slide down a children's fire pole and was so paralyzed with fear of heights that I clung onto that poll for over 20 min. unable to slide down it... fast forward to this weekend and I was hopping down the side of a ravine! I also discovered that I LOVE to kayak!! I always tell people " Oh I don't have any upper body strength" but this weekend proved that I cannot keep saying that any more. I started out that day by putting my kayak in the river convinced I would make it to mile 8 - because i knew that was the first of only two pull out points along the way. I "knew" that there was no way I would be able to paddle for 13 miles. Then all the sudden the mile markers kept passing me and I hadn't hit what I thought for sure would be the end of my kayaking trip, a wall of fatigue! But that never came and the next thing I knew I was pulling my kayak out at mile 13 wishing we could have continued even farther. I had my mind set that 8 miles was all I could do but my lesson in repelling the day before reminded me to not tell myself what I can and cannot accomplish but rather to just SHUT UP and PUT UP! Now that I've come home, I started making a SHUT UP and PUT UP list of all the things I want to do - despite any fears or doubts I may have to try them and I can't wait to start scratching them off as I do them!

I'm BAAAACK!!!

Hello there everyone! I know I know, its been forever. Things got really crazy since I moved back and I'm finally finding my groove. I will do my best to catch everyone up as much as I can but let me just say there are some great things happening on my end. I hope to start video blogging. It will include workouts, cooking ideas and just about anything and everything! I hope that everyone will tune in and PLEASE spread the word to friends and family! I'd also love to hear from you what you'd like to see. I have an ever growing list of recipes that I've received requests for as well as topics to cover so please post in the comments or email me at alexis.mundis@gmail.com with your ideas and suggestions!!! I am looking forward to the next post. Also sunday I will be uploading pictures from my camping/rock climbing/whitewater canoeing trip this weekend!