Gut Check...

Last night began my two-hour love affair with my TV on Tuesday nights. I have been a Biggest Loser fan since season 1 and last night was the season premier where I got to meet all the new contestants and see their starting point. It always baffles me that the contestants are so big and I always think about the fact that you don't get to that point overnight. If I don't keep myself in check I could easily be standing there, 5 years down the road in terrible shape and severely overweight. It's a huge reality check. But the biggest reality check came when the contestants were talking about their lives and some of the adversity they have faced. The tears came....

Like most of America I was most brought to my knees by Abby. Abby is 35 years old with a starting weight of 245 lbs. She is also a Texas girl! I love her already! What I learned about Abby last night is that in October of 2006 she lost her husband, her 5 1/2 year old daughter and her 2 1/2 week old son in a car accident. They were hit by a driver going over 100 miles an hour and in an instant her life changed. She said, "In an instant I lost every role that was important to me." I thought to myself, oh my gosh....wife, mother, best friend...in an instant those roles are gone forever for her. I listened to her talk about her tragedy but what I heard in her voice was hope and her spark for life. She was the only person in her family not in that car and she point blank said, "There is a reason I'm still here. I have a lot left to do, and although I don't know what exactly that is, I do know I ran a mile today." And a huge, contagious smile spread across her face. Now that is inspiration. As she stepped on the scale at the end of their first week she could celebrate the fact that she lost 15 pounds!! Her journey had begun. And while all the other contestants had exclaimed that their weight loss was for their wife, or their husband, or their children, for the chance to watch them grow...she said, "I don't have anyone else to do this for but for me. And that's enough. I have to wake up every morning and choose to get up and take steps. I'm not afraid of death. Death would be much easier. But I choose life and I choose to live it to the fullest."

And in that moment, not kidding I had alligator tears streaming down my face, I thanked God for each and every blessing and each and every day He gives me with them. And I thanked Him for showing me so clearly a moment of living beyond the end of my nose. Abby, I don't even know you, but I appreciate you and your heart. My word what you've been through. But last night, you taught me more than calories burned must be higher than calories taken in to achieve weight loss. You taught me to choose joy. I heard it last week in bible study, but you showed it to me. Go green team! (*For the record I LOVE Coach Mo too!!)