Where do I start? I’ve reached my summit and it was way easier than I thought it would be. And like all mountain climbers, I’ve already set a new goal of reaching a higher mountain. This one was high but my spark for competition was lit again, and as I’ve mentioned many times, it’s not all about competing with all the other moms in this challenge but competing with myself. I love challenging myself. My best friend exercises a lot and during the last few years I’ve thought, I have to get back into it too. She inspires me (you know who you are!). Ironically my husband was also editing a popular Canadian television show where families adopt healthier lifestyle choices and go on to lose weight. He would always ask my opinion about segments he’s edited. I would sit there in our home studio with headphones on and watch strangers changing their lives and see how proud they would be in the end and I would think, ‘I need to be like these people!!!’ Well, here I am! I have achieved it. This 8 week challenge is now over but this journey isn’t over for me and will never be, it’s not something I started with an end, it’s a challenge I have adopted and will keep pursuing.

I have lost a lot of weight and loads of inches. Even my knee-high boots are too big around my calves – which makes me very happy even though they were so expensive! My pre-pregnancy jeans and other clothes are too big, black and out of style anyway, so I’m ready for a wardrobe makeover. I have so much more energy and I look forward to my workout everyday. My mood is high and I feel so much lighter. Out of 56 days of the TBR program, I worked out 50 of them hard, through two colds, two sprained toes, many days on little sleep and many other obstacles but I needed to do it, I needed to prove myself that I could do it and that nothing could stop me. “What’s the excuse you have for not working out?” was the question that summed up what this contest was all about. I realized that there aren’t many excuses that are big enough for me to not work out. I have always eaten well but I love my cheeses, wine, baguette and chocolate and I have learned to have it in moderation. I had wine on occasion while on this challenge because I didn’t want to stop everything I enjoy. I didn’t want to think of this program as a diet. I don’t like that word. To me, diets are something people follow to achieve a weight goal and then once they’ve achieved it, they often get back to some old habits and gain it all back. So I adapted a new lifestyle around exercising every day, eating smaller portions of what I like, a piece of dark chocolate here and there as my reward and that’s it! This new lifestyle is so good for me and it’s working, I can now do a mean plank, sit ups, dips, run and a lot more. I feel like nothing can stop me!

-Caroline Alarie