National Challenge Participant Sandy Graham Talks About her Journey

Sandy Graham (slgraham) has been a very active community member on XWeighted.com. She lost an incredible 50 pounds over the course of the National Challenge, and we spoke to her about her experiences…

It feels great, but I am a little bit disappointed that I didn’t meet my XWeighted.com weight-loss goal, which was 57 pounds. At the start of the Challenge, I thought that there was no way I’d even come close to that, and that losing 40 pounds would be fantastic, but to actually get so close but not making it has been hard because I’m such a goal orientated person. Overall though, obviously, 50 pounds is a fantastic amount, and much more than I thought I would be able to do.

It was hard to find a before picture to use in this profile, because previously I didn’t want to have my picture taken. And that’s one thing, recently, is that now when I have my picture taken I think I don’t look that bad in that picture. It feels much better.

My challenges have been cooking for myself. Because I am single, that was something that was a deterrent for me from the beginning and continuing to cook for myself is the one biggest challenges. But, I do cook for myself and I have changed my habits, especially when it comes to food. I bring lunches to work instead of buying them there and I don’t go through the drive-through anymore.

I think also, once I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to make the target XWeighted.com set for me and be eligible for the grand prizes, it was hard to stay focused. I had a little bit of a letdown then. When I knew I wasn’t going to be able to meet that goal, it was very frustrating.

Having said that, it was never about the prizes for me. The big prize for me is going to be completing my fitness goal, the sprint triathlon, because it’s something I’ve wanted to do for years. I thought I’d love to do a triathlon before I was 40, then I missed that deadline and thought “there is no way I’m ever going to do this”. Now I am really excited I am going to do that, in a couple of weeks, and that will be my prize, crossing that finish line.

Positive comments from other people have really helped me to stay motivated. People around me have been really supportive, which has made it a lot easier to lose weight, because once you get going all these comments from people make you feel better and make you want to stay on track.

I play bridge with my mother a couple of times a year, and when I played recently one of her friends was just gushing about how great I looked. It was such a surprising reaction, and it has been a real ego boost quite honestly.

I loved doing the challenge. I was a big lurker on the site, and I found people's blogs and profiles really inspiring. I also thought that the focus videos and expert videos were great - so many times the focus videos were right on point with what I was going through at that time in the Challenge. The community interaction was really helpful too.

I’d still like to lose more weight, another 20 pounds or so. I’ve lost weight before, so my biggest if fear is that I’ll gain it all back, but I think the reactions I’ve had from people help me to stay on track.