Teresa

Hi Peeps! It’s me, Teresa–lover of photography, gardening, sports, singing, cooking and spending time with my favorite people.

I was the second born in a family of five children and I was the only girl. This is only significant because I believe my love of sports developed from the hours and hours of playing with my brothers and the neighborhood kids. I couldn’t get them to play dollies with me, so if I wanted someone to play with I had to jump in and play ball (or trucks, or cops and robbers, or whatnot) with them. I don’t think a day went by in the summer that we didn’t play baseball in the back yard, roller skate and ride bikes up and down the street, shoot baskets in the driveway, jump on the Parker’s trampoline, or play football.

I continued playing competitive sports throughout high school, where I lettered in volleyball beginning my sophomore year and participated in both track and basketball my freshman and sophomore years, and into my early twenties where I played on competitive church and city league softball and volleyball teams.

I’m not quite sure how I went from being this girl:

To being this girl:

But it happened.

Apparently I coped with the stresses of life (finances, jobs, bad relationships, good relationships, etc.) with food. Somewhere along the way I lost myself.

I’ve attempted to lose weight many times. When I first moved to Logan I was probably about 80 pounds overweight and I hunkered down at the gym and took care of business. But then….I gained again, and more. I tried Weight Watchers, I tried starving myself, I tried Phen/Fen, I tried Medifast, I even tried throwing up a few times (but quite frankly, I’d rather be fat than have to go through that on a regular basis). The only time I’ve had even moderate success was with a combination of exercise and calorie counting. In fact, in recent years, I have participated in ultimate loser contests at my gym and have done quite well—losing a combined total of 88 pounds (this is what that looked like)only to gain nearly 80 back. I’m going back to that proven method for my (hopefully) last attempt to lose these unwanted pounds. Along with that, I’m going to do everything in my power to understand why it is that I always gain the weight back so I can keep it off for good this time.

My long term goals include:

• Run a 5K by the end of 2010
• Pass the qualifying workout for the “Blood and Guts” class at the gym (still need to find out what the requirements are so I can set a date).
• Compete in the Greatest Loser Challenge at the gym (10-2-10 through 1-15-11) SIGNED UP!
• Completing the Top of Utah Marathon, September 2011
• Completing a sprint triathlon with my niece, Amanda, sometime in 2011
• Participating in an organized team sport again
• Become a morning person (this may be the hardest of all)

A great big thanks goes out to those who nudged me into applying for The Biggest Loser. Completing the application and thinking about what to put in a video really got the thought process going. And—thanks to Karen and Margie. Having you to support and help me through this journey makes it not only seem bearable but actually fun. And a final thanks to a loving Heavenly Father who gave me the amazing gift of this resilient body and who I lean on daily as I strive to become what he would have me be.

I’ve decided to keep track of my weigh in stats at the bottom of this page as well–just for a handy place for me to check.

Stats:

9/7/10, 328.8

9/14/10, 327.6 (-1.2)

9/21/10, 318.6 (-9; -10.2 total)

9/28/10, 315.6 (-3; -13.2 total)