Leslie & Amber

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Our Story

Amber and I are both really compative people who push each other in almost every area of our lives. We always are trying to one up the other person.

Weight loss is something we have both struggled with our entire lives. Both of our families consisit of mostly of overweight people and we often are quoting each other blamming the good old "its in my genes" factor when we aren't succeding in our weight loss.

We need this contest for accountability and motivation and we both think it will give us that. Most of all though we are fed up with being the overweight people in our group of friends, it really is a challenge. While both of us have tried all types of diets and at times we have been successful to loose some weight, we both are at a plateu and nothing right now is sticking with us from the "diets" except our weight.

We plan on losing weight by dieting, exercise, and pushing each other. We are treating this like another competition between each other. When we do manage to make it to the gym together we go to new limits because we push off of each other. Amber and I are planning on hitting the gym or some form of exercise every day and seting a goal of running an olympic triathlon this summer. We're also planning on going back to old roots with eating healthy and counting calories. I think we have both finally gotten to the point that we know that it isn't just being uncomfortable in our clothes, but being uncomfortable in our own skin.

I think we should win so that we can challenge and encourage others along our path. I think by winning this competition we can not only challenge our friends, but most of all our families. By winning this competition it would allow our outside appearance to reflect our inner beauty.

Trials & Triumphs!

December 17

ONEderland! :)

I have dreamed sooo long that it would once happen... I thought at one time in my journey it would never happen.. Only because in order for me to get in onederland.. one would have to loose almost 100 pounds... but women/men! it's possible! :)

Cool Stats & Fast Facts!

I've lost over a 100 pounds.. thats right!!! I've reached above and beyond my 100 pound loss mark, and it feels sooo good!!!

I've lost 117.5 inches! Forever gone.

I am six sizes smaller than where I started.

My HDL which is your good cholestral is finally up! - It's risen from 30 - to 51!!!
My Total Cholesteral has gone from 225(2006) to 192 (2007) to 178 (2008)
My Triglicerides have gone from 162 (2006) to 147 (2007) to 128 (2008)

My Body Fat has dropped considerably! I've gone from 48% (2006) to 22%!!! (2008)

My BMI has gone from 45.2 (Morbidly Obese) to 29.6.

I (yes me!!) am a cycling instructor!!

I've walked 1 5k, and Ran 4 5K's!
I've run 5 Sprint Tri's!! and 1 Olympic Tri! :) - WHO would have ever thought?!

I couldn't have done it all without support of family and friends... Sometimes I felt as thought I was wadding thru rising waters of temptation or frustration of people not understanding what I was doing.. there were always those who had my back, and who I hope will continue to have my back.. because girlfriends, this girl is not done yet! :) I will never forget the times when you came around me to support me, to cheer me on, to celebrate what I have done, it meant the world to me, and I cannot thank you enough. I will never forget the times when you asked what you could do to help, or what you could do to educate your own self so that you could walk side by side with me in this long rode.

It's been a little over three years... three years you say?! Yes, I wonder sometimes how three years have slipped by so fast, but one of my dear friends a year ago wrote one of the coolest things for me, on my weight loss anniversary just a little over a year ago, I will never forget it, I keep it next to my bed and read it often, it reminds me of the truth, it encourages me to push forward in every step I take. (thank you friend!)

I could have also never of done any of this without God. I know sounds funny huh.. you're probably thinking but you did this all on your own motivation and will power, etc.. right?! Wrong.. I cannot tell you how many times I have struggled with eating late at night, or wanting to eat out with friends, or just not going to the gym, but I can tell you how many times my God was so faithful, that he meet me right where I was. He was faithful as I called out to him in
prayer to be my self control when I had none. He was faithful even when I was not.

I cannot begin to explain how many pages in my journals were filled with prayers, frustrations and wondering if I was ever going to get it all.. if I was even understanding what God had for me thru it all.. there were so many times I wanted a simple answer, I wanted to wish it all away, and hope that it would be fixed overnight.. but there were so many times God brought me back to his truth. When I found my self in the most difficult places (eating out of control, wanting to give up, not wanting to perserve in what God had for me, or even in the task) I sought out the power of his holy spirt and in prayer, and I always felt even if I had to wait days... God always seemed to meet me and answer..

God gave me amazing verses along the way, that I want to share with all of you.

Galations 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such
things there is no law.

Galatians 5:24-25 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep
in step with the Spirit.

Matthew 7:7 Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

Psalms 16:7 I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.

I hope no matter what you are going thru big or small... short or long, you too find it challenging and rewarding even till the end :)

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July 17

Danskin Tri (Part 3)

So it's saturday night, it's about 9:00 PM, and I am heading to bed, Amber and my dad are both already in bed, working on going to sleep, I am getting there. I have prechecked all my race gear double checked everything, I am good to go, all I need now is a restful nights sleep. If ONLY!!!! I feel asleep around 10:00 only to be awoke around 11:30 to a BLAZING snoring coming from my dad, oh brother, not a good night to start this. at 11:30 I am yelling Dad, Dad, DAD!! and he yells WHAT?! your snoring!! he quickly falls back to sleep, but not before I ask him to turn on the tv for some counter noise to the snoring, I fall back asleep for a short time. Around 12:45 I wake up again to snoring, and I am quickly yelling, Dad, dad, DENNIS!! and in return he yells a "WHAT?", and stops for a few and goes back to sleep, I then place a pillow over my head, Amber is wide awake as well, she is tossing and turning and I am frustrated from the lack of sleep and I am now asking her what she is doing and telling her to LAY STILL!! It's bad enough I got snoring, but now I got someone pulling the covers, tossing and turning, pushing aroudn in the bed, oh brother! At 1:30 I wake up to more snoring, just as I was falling asleep, and this time it's not just snoring it's someones phone dying, like their battery is dying or something, I am now out of bed walking around trying to find who's phone is beeping, and my dad is still snoring and Amber is still in bed. I find it turn it off, and lay back down.. My dad is still snoring, I yell at him to stop! he yells back this time "you know whats more annoying" he stops mid sentace so I finish it with "not letting your daughter get any sleep!!!" and since he stopped mid sentance he had already fallen back asleep! By this time I am debating about moving to the hallway of our hotel, but it's already 2 am, and we have to get up at 3 something so i figure its just not worth it! I am now contemplating and semi worrying about how I will perform race wise with little to no sleep, oh brother.

At 3 something our alarms are going off, I am already half awake, but I let everyone else get up ahead of me, hoping to squeeze in a few extra moments, I am a quick dresser, finally all of us are up, and ready to go, we pack the van, and were off to the race location!! :) I am definitly getting excited and nervous but I can't tell which is which because I am too tired at this point. All weekend I've been praying and focusing on doing well, I am confident on my abilities as long as my knee holds out, and I am confident in God's grace, that it will be enough, but I am praying on the way to the race, for extra grace today! I am gonna need it!

We arrive at the race venue around 4:30 or so, not bad, we find our parking location, dead on, we get a pretty sweet location, all things considering that your not supposed to park anywhere near the race site, so all is good! My dad hooked us up wtih sweet parking the day before, so it's good. We jump out of the van grab my gear and walk to transition, I am getting excited!!!! Amber is walking wtih me, and she is freezing, she is in shorts and a t-shirt and it's probably only about 58 degrees the sun hasn't even come up yet, and it's windy, were walking, a lady comes up next to us, she says.. wow look at those waves.. I comment back. I am like.. ahh its not bad compared to last year! and then.. it hits me... MY WET SUIT!! i forgot my wet suit, I know its in the car, but it's not with me, i double check, i look at amber, I ask her if she will walk back to get it for me, while I set up my gear in transition, and she is like sure.. whew.. close call!!

I continue onto transition and begin to layout my gear, double checking everything, i feel kind of like I am in a mental fog, maybe it's the lack of sleep, I dunno. But I am setting up, I get some sun screen on, double check my bike, do everything I am supposed to do in transition, double check my tires, etc.. there aren't very many people in transition yet, it's not hopping, but i am glad i am here.. it feels good to get it all set up. Amber arrives after a while with my wet suit, ahh relief, I breath easy for a few moments, I finish my set up, and it's a very crowded transition zone so I end up setting my back pack up against a tree, which works well.

I leave transition for a while and meet up with amber pondering and making sure I can wear my wet suit for the day, thankfully the water isn't to hot! I can wear it, another relief (note to self, always bring extra swim suit along!) Then I go back in double check my bike one last time, someone has racked a bike in between a biker and me, where there was no room, but because i had a prime spot, they took it, so I have to move my gear around a bit, but I think it's okay.. I double check one last time before I meet up wiht amber again and we head over to the swim. I tell her I need a nap and I plan to take one on that beach!

We walked over to the beach and the grass was still wet so we sat on my wet suit which was fine, I ended up laying down for a while, after a while amber stood up, and I laid on my head on a bag and finally sleep! a littel nap, lala land, I was even drewling, it felt sooo good. The race started, but I didn't go off until an hour and a half after the race started so I basically chilled until I had to get up and get my Wet suit on and get in the water to warm up. When wave 17 was getting in the water I decided I probably should get ready! since I was in wave 24, and tehy were going off every 4 minutes. Soon enough it would be my turn.

I got in my wet suit and headed for the water, it was a bit chilly but not bad with the wet suit. After a littel warm up swim, I came back, talked to Amber for a few until wave 20 hit the water, Amber reassured me she would be at the swim exit but not the swim start, because it was a half a mile hike back to the swim exit for her, and she wanted to make sure she got there... when I told her she had 15 minutes to get back.. she said yeah.. about that! So she started walking back as I headed for the swim start!!! I was uber excited.

So you go down to the beach and Sally Edwards, an amazing triathlete!! gives you this mantra for the day, and some encouraging words.. unforunitly our mantra for the wave was so weird word that I think started with an I like I or something... it was not somethign that was easily recongnized or somethign I could easily remeber.. so I tossed it out.. but I moved on.. we all gave each other the standard double high five and the "You GO girl" cheer and soon enoguh.... 1 minute to go!!! I started my watch, and was ready!

And we were off, I probably started the swim a little to strong, I started on the outside edge on the right side, I didn't want to kick anyone or deal with people grabbing me, so I started off swimming uber fast like, probably some of it was adrenailine, by the first bouy there was no one touching me, and I was not hitting anyone, it felt great. I would swim a littel look up site, and swim some more.. It was uber hard to site in this race because the docks we were supposed to use for siting were black and they blended in with the water, I got off alittel bit on the first one, and soon enough I heard life gaurds yelling, but I quickly got back on track, and swam the rest of the race on just inside of the docks, although I had to look up a lot more than I normally am used to, which made things more complicated than normal. I also probably swam close to an extra 100 yards! Bummer!!! But oh well. I did it all freestyle adn no backstroke so that was really good, and soon enough, I was at the beach!! yay!!!!! My swim time was 15:33 with a swim rank of 687

I felt pretty good at this point, and still pretty strong, so it was good. I ran up the beach with my wet suit half off, and around the corner in transition, I could hear amber yelling for me, so that was great! I ran around the corner and had no problem getting to my bike! yay!! although while I was running to my bike which was probably 200 yards my wet suit was like falling off, so I had to hold it on, but other than that it wasn't bad. I got to my area, quickly tore off my wet suit, put my knee brace on, skipped washing my feet, slipped in my shoes, no socks, and slipped on my helmet, and was OFF!! whew it was a quick transition, and I felt smooth. My transition time was 2:30, which is't bad at all for having to put my knee brace on and having a wet suit :)

I was off on the bike, I was feeling amazingly strong for just getting out of the water, and decided I would push a bit before I took in some water, I was passing bikers left and right, it felt sooo good, I was going up the first hill, and what do you know, their is the photographer ( BOOOO) I was so frustrated he was sitting right on the left, I was trying to pass someone who was on the far left, who wasn't getting over, so I had to swing out and pass her but as soon as I did i realized the photographer was like staring me dead in my tracks, so I had to get back over, i believe thats the reason for my lovely face on the first bike photo :) I was so frsutrated with him, i was like.. dude get out of my way!! :)

I was cruzing on the bike, I was going up hills at 18-20 miles, and flats at 27 - 30 it felt soooo good, I forgot to reset my bike cyclometer in transition and need to remember to do that next time, but it was going good, at mile 2 I decided I should start counting how many people I pass and not let that many people pass me on the run... so I did.. one by one.. It was great, by the time I had finished the bike I had passed 178 people... and I also decided every 10th person I passed I would encouraged so I did a lot of encouraging!! :) That was really fun! :) At mile 4 I was 15 minutes into the bike, if I could keep this pace up, by mile 8 I would be 30 minutes into it, and that would be a rockstar time. But at mile 6 or so I hit a really strong head wind, and had to slow down a lot, but thats okay, i pushed thru, and towards the end I found my strong pace once again. My Bike time rocked at 40:51 with a Bike Rank of 300 and an average speed of 19 MPH

I flew into the transition zone! I think Amber just about missed me, I was earlier than I expected, but there she was, a sign, a cowbell, and a camera :) She was great!! I took off my helmet, off my shoes, put socks on, which I dont even remember doing, and then running shoes, a race belt, a fuel belt, and a visor and I was off!! My T2 time was 3:17 which could be where I make some improvement

When I started running my calves started to cramp up, and I kind of began to worry that I hadn't of taken enough water or such on the bike.. which I know I didn't but oh well... I ran for about 4 minutes before I caved in and decided to walk for 2 to try to work it out and then run again. It seemed to really help, and then I ran off my watch, which was good, running for about 7 - 9 minutes, a walk break and then running again. I had a fairly decent run, not the best but the best I have ever had during a tri, I did't feel 110% like the other two events but I felt pretty good. It really helped having my fuel belt and I will definitly take ti from now on, it definitly helped me from getting to hot! Towards the end I got really encouraged and felt like I could keep going, I never felt like dying durin the race which was good!! Soon enough I saw the crowd an crossed the finish line giving a high five a few people and success!!! my 6th triathlon!!! :) My run time was 39:37 with a run rank of 2714 and a pace of 12:46

Over all this tri was amazing, it was a personal best with a time of 1:41:49, but I have to figure out how to run better.. I placed 1151 out of 4600 women which is pretty cool!!! and I placed 160 out of 311 in my age group... but all things considering especially my knee situation and considering my PT didn't want me to run, I will take it! I am going to take august off from racing and come back in september... which kind of makes me sad, but I guess there is next year. :)

More to come!! :)

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July 16

Danskin Tri (part 2)

So on Saturday, we got up early and headed to the expo, thankfully we got their early! I am getting smarter in my tri days, and since I got their early and the bike check line was short, it was the first thing I did, I got my bike all checked out, and she was good to go!!! yay!!! the lady even commented on my sweet ride :) How fun!

Then we went inside to the expo where we stood/sat in line for about 45 minutes before I could get my packet, but all and all it wasn't to bad. I got my packet, race number 3079!!! and a red swim cap. We also picked up lots of goodies at the race expo, including jelly belly sport beans, bic razors, water bottles, and some odds and ends, it was a good day, and fun. We also picked up some signage posters for Amber to make me a sign from Crocs! One of the stipulations of the weekend, I informed my dad and Amber was that I would need, someone to be taking my picture, a cowbell, and a sign, all to cheer me on!! Amber graciously agreed, although she said she wasn't sure she how she was going to do it all with two hands, but she said she would try :) how SWEET!!

After we got done at the expo we went and did some shopping!!! There are two big malls by the area and we hit them both up, the first one we drove around, so I woudn't have to walk around with my bum knee to much before the race and the second Amber graciously agreed to push me around in a wheel chair, thanks amber!!! :) At the first mall we hit up an under armor outlet store, which i scored at and I got two really cute tops, that I am really excited about! :) And at the second mall both of us scored, we both got several things, including new coats from burlington coat factory.

When we got to the second mall, the mall is huge, so my dad dropped us off at the location furthest from the hotel, so if we had to walk to the hotel after we were done it woudln't be a big deal, however when we got in the mall, and looked at the map, probably 10 minutes after he dropped us off, we were like.. uhh could you come pick us back up and deliver us to location E. He was like.. sure.. LOL my dad is sooo great!!!

So we got a wheel chair and Amber pushed me around, it felt so good not to have to walk on my already bum knee, however there were so many people looking at me all the time it made me feel really uncomfortable, but I got over it. My favorite moment of the mall was when we were in Kohls and there was a lady there who seriously looked me up and down at least 3 times staring at me, before saying.. "Kohls, card, do you have a kohls card?" I was like.. no thank you, and went on.. but we laughed about it the rest of the day.. classic!

Then we tried to find a place to do my hair.. oh brother, we stopped at a Master Cuts, but they were like.. uhh sure but it will cost you 35 bucks!! I was like NO WAY!! so then we drove around trying to find another place, before we ended up back at a store in the mall called Beauty Essentials who said they would do it for 5 bucks, score!!

After all of that was done, we tried to find a place to eat, I had to have some carbs! and I really wanted pasta, an essential the night before a big race! We hit up the GPS and the firs thing we hit was an olive garden but it was overpacked and was over an hour wait, we didn't really want to wait, so we continuted on our journey, next up was rosittos or something like that, but when we got to the destination, it was no longer there, gone! So we tried again, next up Rostas? Sounds okay to me! Let's go.. when we got there, they had a buffet of italian delights!!! YUMMMMOO!! They had a great salad bar too. It was a local joint and really fun place, we even marked it as a favorite in the good old gps! :)

Ahh and now, back to the hotel for what I had hoped.. a good nights sleep...

Sunday to come..

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July 15

The Danskin Tri (part 1)

The Danskin is my absolutly favoritest tri, and for any woman out there who lives in or around the Chicago area, or around a Danskin Tri area I would highly recommend, this triathlon, while it has it's quirks, it's by far still has my heart!!

We started our weekend out on Friday around 9:45 and headed for Waterloo to meet up with my dad to head out for IL. We meet up with him, talked for a bit, and quickly got on the road, we debated about our travels, which way we should head, etc. Amber and I recently just started working really hard to work on our food, and I knew that this weekend might be a big challenge for both of us, my dad, who I love dearly, is constantly eating, or up for the next food fix (hey maybe this is where I got this from!!, after all I am my father's daughter) anyway, we headed out, and we were trying to find the route we took a previous year, all so we could hit up this joint that had amazing beef jerky, oh brother!

Anyway, we found it! :) but on the way there we also found several farmer's markets, and hit up on fresh fruits, including peaches and plums, and they were delicous, I saved my peice of beef jerky for race day, which Is what I was going to use as my free day, and snacked on fruit most of the way, which was good! At night we ate at a boston Market, picnic style and had roasted turkey that was delicious, and fairly healthy!! yay!!! I had made it thru day one! :)

We made it to our hotel with out to many issues, and had a lot of fun and intresting conversations along the way, it was really great to just hang out with my dad, without my mom, even though I was bummed she wasn't able to come!

Friday night, I asked Amber if she knew how to french braid, she was like uhh no but I can try, I was like sweet, because every race I have ever run I've had french braids, we even called up my sister to hear how to do it, she made several attempts, but they were umm lets just say very intresting.. My dad even said, it can't be that hard!!! it's just like braiding rope, i'll try... He took an attempt to, but it was not quite there.. :) I suggested we find a cost cutters on Saturday after all of that, but it was definitly worth a good laugh at the hotel.

Saturday and Sunday to come!

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July 10

It's Official

I am going to be a SPIN instructor!!! For the rec services depart of the University I work for!!!

I am way excited. I taught my first ever class the past wednesday as an audition and it went really well, I even had a girl come up to me after class ask me if I was going to be teaching every wednesday night at that time.. She said she really enjoyed my class.. that was a really cool compliment!! The instructor who was evaluating me had nothing but positives to say to me so that was really great!! She said the only thing I did wrong was I forgot to introduce my self, how crazy.

The class was really fun but tough, about 45 minutes into it, I thought for a short time I might vomit, so I know if I push that hard I can't imagine what others might have been feeling, I can sometimes be tough, but I love to push!! :) This really is a great stepping stone for me, and I am really excited to teach!

It also makes me really realize that no matter what, as long as I don't give up on a dream, everything is possible :)

I hope everything is going well for others, I have been super busy and not able to update this as much as I would like... I also recently completed the Hy-Vee Triathlon, my first Olympic Distance!!! It was a blast and I can't wait to do it again!!!

I also hurt my left knee, and am doing pt on it.. but I think it's getting better.. and I am wiating to hear the MRI results for the right knee... so we'll see.

whew!! Okay I hope all is well with all of you!!

Leslie

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Danielle Muethingwrote:

Kelley and Kristie are the ones who put the games together. If you aren't friends with them already they should be on my main page so you can find them. Just add them and let them know you want to be added to the invite so you can see how the points work and what not :)

July 16

shawn gamblewrote:

Have a wonderful weekend!

May 29

Dollywrote:

Wow you ladies are doing great, keep up the super progress! Dolly

Apr. 27

Corey Bogartwrote:

Any tips you have for running would be terrific!! My husband currently runs 3miles in less than 28 minutes...now I know I won't be ANYWHERE near that time, but I wanna impress him for sure!! So I'm calling all help from our "community" that I can get!! LOL!! I've got about 2 1/2 mo's left until D-DAY!! heheh!!

Apr. 10

Christine Girtz Adamswrote:

Hi!!! What a great page you put together and you both look great! Great job on you losses!!!

Apr. 10