This is just the beginning ...

She's almost as tall as me!!!

Welp. It's a little bit quieter in my house this morning. We sent Taylyn off to her first day of middle school today. I didn't cry when she started kindergarten, and I didn't cry today. Maybe I'm void of that maternal emotion, but much of my lack of it comes from the fact that she's a very independent girl. Always has been. She taught herself how to ride her bike. She's pulled every single one of her teeth out on her own. And when we went to get her locker and schedule from her new (and much larger) school, she snatched it from our hands and said "I want to do this on my own." That makes me proud.

So this morning, I sit here in the quiet of my house as the dogs lounge around, clearly exhausted from an entire night of sleep, and my sweet son (who starts school tomorrow) is snuggled up right next to me, playing his Hay Day game. He's a little bit more, shall we say, attached. Okay, so he's a mama's boy. Shut up. In fact, if any tears were shed this morning while Taylyn walked up to her school with her friends, it was from TJ. He's my tenderhearted one.

So, here's to a new school year officially beginning and the summer coming to an end.

Some of you may be wondering how things turned out for the end of the 10 week fitness challenge we just completed at Farrell's Extreme Body Shaping. First of all, thank you to everyone who encouraged us. I thought I would share just a few snippets with our results (which we were pretty excited about).  

First of all, we didn't win the $1,000. It's ironic, because when we first signed up, winning the money was MY ONLY goal. And literally the only reason I wanted to win the money so badly was because I wanted to get the money back we paid to sign up in the first place so Paul wouldn't doubt that it was a good decision on my part.

As the weeks went on, the money prize became less substantial as we began seeing results AND I could see the change in Paul and how much he was actually loving it. That said, the exciting part for us is that we actually both ended up in the Top 5 finalists and (from what I heard), they had to vote 3 separate times between Paul and the winner. So it was close. But regardless of that, THIS PROGRAM is a winner. It delivers proven results!

Okay, so these are some of the final results for Paul and I:

Paul lost almost 7 pounds. He's down 3% body fat and lost 3" in both his waist and his hips and he took one minute and 15 seconds off his one mile time. He started out being able to do 35 pushups (MAN pushups, mind you...Wristen) and 25 sit-ups in one minute. By the end, he did 85 pushups in one minute and 42 sit-ups.

For me, I lost exactly 10 lbs. I'm also down 3% body fat and lost 3"in my waist, hips and chest. I even lost an inch and a half in my thighs. My pushups went from 34 to 75 in one minute and my sit-ups increased from 28 to 39.

I'm not sharing this to brag, but I will admit I am very proud of the accomplishment because it came with hard work. Funny thing is, the hard work was actually quite fun. The reason I share these results and excitement with you is that I know there are many of you out there wanting to change this part of your life. And now, Paul and I can speak from personal experience and tell you that this program is not only worth it, but it's proven.  And that's just 10 short weeks. We have made some significant lifestyle changes that we can tell will follow us much beyond the 10 week program. Nutritionally, I learned things I had never even considered. In fact, throughout the 10 weeks, I literally had to convince myself to eat MORE. I don't remember one time when my stomach growled from hunger because I was eating six times a day! My craving for pop, which never went away anytime I would just "diet" or give it up, was almost non existent. I didn't deprive myself of the foods I loved, I only allowed them at certain times and on certain days.

I'm asking any of you who want to make that change to give it good thought. You have roughly 8-10 weeks now to think about it before the next session begins. All I ask is that you don't try to talk yourself out of it. You DO have time, you DO have the ability and you DO have the will. Don't be afraid to give me a shout if you want more info. You can email me at kaseykyates@gmail.com or you can send me a message on Facebook (that's how most of us communicate in the first place). Start living life at Level Ten!!!