“What’s up with that face?” my husband asked me after taking my picture for the “60 -Day Challenge” “What?” I answered, “it’s not like anybody is going to see it… who cares? It’s just a requirement, let’s just get it over with.” As soon as I saw the picture I felt great apathy towards myself, I could not believe the way I looked. I felt so miserable and disgusted with myself. How did I get here? Why did I let my body get this way? I kept asking myself over and over while I stared at my picture. I was almost in tears, so I had my husband take one single shot of each pose. If I could only rewind time, I would go back to that moment and smile big, or take several pictures not making faces. But back then, I had no idea I was going to finish my first Challenge, much less that I was going to complete a second one.

I have lost, since I started in the fall, a total of 35 lb. I know that it might not seem so much. A lot of other women are losing this much in only one challenge. But for me, my husband and daughter, it has been a rough, long and hard journey. So hard that my husband called me “HANGRY” (a mix in between angry and hungry) on a daily basis. I had to give up a lot of foods and especially my favorite: doughnuts! The beginning was the hardest, but I had a great support system: at home, my family, and at LIFE TIME, my trainer Jojo. When I joined his TEAM Weight Loss class, he would take extra time to ask me about my lunch and would give tips on what I could do better or what supplements to use. That was my first Challenge and I finished losing 18 lb.

The start of the second challenge was easier. I am already used to eating healthy and going to the grocery store is a breeze. If I can’t read the label, I don’t buy it, as recommended by my nutritionist at the gym. This is an example of one of the many things I have learned.

Now I am on the other side and I can say it has been a great, long, awesome journey these past few months. I am full of energy, empowered, healthy and fit. I cannot wait to go to the gym every day and see my new friends and exercise with my TEAM Weight Loss family.

I almost never finish what I start. But now, when I go to the gym, I feel I can do things I never imagine myself doing again. Or simply I see myself the way I remember I once was. I took my after pictures for the end of the second Challenge and I smiled big and I am not “Hangry” anymore. I am ready for the next Challenge!