As a person who has struggled with weight my whole life, I can relate to what the Slimdown Challenge participants are going through. I have always bounced back and forth off the weight scale from a hefty 175 pounds to a fit 130 pounds for as far back as I can remember. For a shorty like me standing at 5’2’’ tall, this is not a good thing, especially with a weak lower back and slow metabolism. The biggest challenge for me seems to be maintaining motivation to commit and also giving up my addiction to any type of food that contains the word “creamy” or “chocolate” in its name.
So when I began writing weekly articles about the Slim Down Challenge, not only did I learn more about nutrition, exercise and what people go through to maintain both, but I also began to see the changes in the contestants bodies and personalities, as the pounds slowly sloughed off.
I realized the determination is takes to come down from an uncomfortable weight that makes you feel self-conscious in public, so a controllable weight that makes you feel in charge of your life. I’ve seen not just the contestants’ victories in losing weight, but also the obstacles they’ve had to face, such as meeting discouraging opinions from family or even hateful comments from people who are less tolerant for others.
The contest has lost a couple of teams for reasons such as these, but those who stay are overcoming the odds. They’re showing others that no matter how old you are, what health issues you have or even how many hours of work you put in a day, you can find a way to make adjustments to your life and lose weight, regardless of what anyone else says.
These contestants are a symbol for what the rest of us experience each day. Now, they drive by fast food restaurants without stopping, go on vacations and ignore the buffets, and they’ve been exercising for at least three to four hours every day. These individuals are an inspiration to me.
I watched them at this week’s meeting in awe as they put in all their effort to sweat it out through Gary Gant’s strenuous boot camp. They have shown me there is no reason why I can’t lose weight as well. I participated with them in the exercises and as the fatigue slowly took over my body, seeing my teammates on either side of me kept me going, because I saw they were sweating and giving it everything they had too.
Their heart and tenacity in reaching their goals is not only commendable, but courageous. They’ve made a commitment and chosen to work through this commitment in the public eye. All of us who have needed someone to show us “it can be done” are depending on them to keep going. This is a lot of pressure, but it doesn’t seem to faze these contestants. They’re doing it for themselves and their families and they’re focused on obtaining a higher quality of life.
They work hard not just because there is a new car from Sunland Ford waiting for the winner of the competition, but because they decided to make a change about their weight and about their lifestyles. In doing so, they’ve shown people like me that we can do the same.