Day 29 - The empowerment of change and living life as a free spirit

ABOUT ME

"To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable." — Helen Keller

"I dare you to be a little bohemian. Free your spirit and free yourself." — Me

I love Helen Keller. I read a lot of biography's and for whatever reason, as much as I admire and am in awe of Keller's life's achievements - I have not read her biography (I know she was involved with one herself - rather than someone writing it posthumously). This must be rectified after I finish my current arsenal of biography's of Grace Slick, Jonestown, Billie Holiday, Nick Drake and Anais Nin. Thank goodness for the library!

Why Helen Keller? Well, blind and deaf she managed to accomplish amazing things during a time where being a woman wasn't exactly easy. She was born in 1880 and died in 1968. She lived her entire life during a time where few women even completed high school. She not only completed high school, she was the first deaf blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree (she graduated from Radcliffe). She also went on to become an American author, political activist and lecturer. She was amazing - take a gander at her wikipedia page HERE.

In addition to her achievements, she did something even more amazing. Something that many of us, including myself, have great difficulty doing. She lived her words. She lived what she believed. She continued to change and grow and behave like a free spirit and consequently exhibited undefeatable strength despite ridiculously, incredibly, difficult obstacles by any time period's standards. I mean in reality ALL I'm doing is dropping some weight on a time frame and taking charge of my health. Keller woke up in total darkness and silence every day of her life after age 18 months over and over again. No noise. No light. Silence. Yet her spirit was not defeated, to the contrary - her spirit became a beacon for many others and soared to unimaginable heights for those whom had no physical handicaps. Yes, I definitely am going to read her biography.

Well folks - tomorrow is the big day. Day 30. I've already met the 20 lb challenge and am ready to continue with challenge #2 which is to get to my proper weight of 138 lbs (I'll be in the 130s for the first time in 20 years when I get there). I'm shaking up my life and hopefully bringing a few other people with me on this journey of hope, joy and good health. Let YOUR spirit soar. Be an agent for change and freedom. Let your inner light shine and be a beacon for others. Pay it forward.

Here's the news for Day 29. So far, I'm in great shape for the big day tomorrow, but just to be sure - I'm juicing today!:

STATISTICS

Height - 5' 7-1/2"

Weight - For the record, I'm weighing in next to nude on the same scale, around the same time every morning before eating or drinking anything.

WEEK ONE - Wednesday, July 15 - Tuesday, July 21, 2009

DAY 01 - 173.4 lbs

DAY 02 - 167.3 lbs
DAY 03 - 165.0 lbs
DAY 04 - ? - I was away and couldn't weigh in
DAY 05 - ? - I was away and couldn't weigh in
DAY 06 - 162.8 lbs

DAY 07 - 161.6 lbs

WEEK TWO - Wednesday, July 22 - Tuesday, July 28, 2009

DAY 08 - 160.2 lbs

DAY 09 - 160.4 lbs

DAY 10 - 159.2 lbs

Day 11 - ? - I was away and couldn't weigh in

Day 12 - ? - I was away and couldn't weigh in

Day 13 - 159.4 lbs
Day 14 - 157.6 lbs

WEEK THREE - Wednesday, July 29 - Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Day 15 - 157.0 lbs
Day 16 - 158.2 lbs

Day 17 - 157.0 lbs

Day 18 - 157.1 lbs

Day 19 - I was away and couldn't weigh in

Day 20 - 155.0 lbs

Day 21 - 156.1 lbs

WEEK FOUR - Wednesday, August 5 - Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Day 22 - 156.2 lbs

Day 23 - 154.9 lbs
Day 24 - 153.3 lbs <-- 20 lbs in 24 days!

Day 25 - I was away and couldn't weigh in

Day 26 - I was away and couldn't weigh in

Day 27 - 153.9 lbs

Day 28 - 153.9 lbs

WEEK FIVE - Wednesday, August 12 - Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Day 29 - 153.2 lbs <- Woot! Back under the 20 lb mark again!

FOOD

Breakfast

• 2 cups of coffee
• Juice: Carrot, cucumber, apple, lemon
  

Snack

• Juice: Carrot, cucumber, apple, lemon
  

Lunch

• Juice: Carrot, cucumber, apple, lemon

Snack

• Juice: Carrot, cucumber, apple, lemon
  

Supper

• Juice: carrot, lemon, tomato, celery, cayenne pepper (woot!) and black pepper. Now THAT'S what I'm talking about.
  

EXERCISE

• Random pull-ups
• Abs with Tamilee Webb (the tough one - didn't make it completely through it though - I was crunched for time.
• 2.8 mile power walk which ended up stopping at the grocery store for tonight tomatoes and celery (and tomorrow's avocado treat :-)