Mixed Emotions :)! :(!

This has been such an amazing journey! Don't we all feel so good about the things that we have learned and the progress that we are making?! Feeling healthy feels SO GOOD! I remember the teacher at Weight Watchers telling me years ago that "nothing tastes as good as being healthy feels!" And today I feel it!

On the other hand, I feel so sad to think that I am going to lose that weekly contact with each of my heart challenge friends! I've just finished reading all of your blogs and it was so inspiring to read each of your insights. Ann and I have already planned to continue training twice a week at our local gym where we both have memberships but I hope we can plan to continue getting together occasionally as a group. I have no doubt that each of us will continue to progress and I think it would be so great to celebrate by getting together!

How can I begin to quantify what I have learned physically, mentally or spiritually? The synergy of all of it working together brings exponential benefits! Is it the same for each of you? Not a day goes by that I don't think a thought that I learned from this 100 day heart challenge. From the lines of Intuitive Eating running through my head to things Traci has said to me to cooking/shopping/emotional eating tips from Mindy to conversations with Ann, my partner, to Mike the Chef's thoughts resonating with my experience to Chad's training tips and including conversations with each of you, it all blesses my life and motivates me!

The overarching feeling that I have been having lately is a huge OPTIMISM about my ability to continue with this healthy way of life. I've never felt this way before. I've always started a program to lose weight and stopped everything when I had lost the weight that I intended (although before this challenge it was getting so much harder for me to even want to start a program and I can honestly say I had lost all hope of ever being healthy again!). It sounds so crazy to say that now because I truly feel so positive! What if I had never been chosen for this challenge? What if I hadn't learned what I know? What if I hadn't come to believe in myself again?!?!? This line of thinking does two things for me. 1) It makes me all the more grateful for the 100 day challenge and 2) I feel a desire to continue on with healthy habits as a way of showing this gratitude.