It is Tuesday and exactly two weeks ago today we started our challenge. I feel like I have worked very hard and am giving it my best effort. I am beginning to feel better and stronger already. I have lost 6 pounds so far and here's hoping, many more will follow. I see all my fellow "challengees" at the wellness center and am so glad we are doing well. I hope we all find success in September.

Here it is--my birthday today. I am proud that I am giving myself a great present this year and that is learning to take better care of my health by exercising and eating right. It has been almost two weeks since we started and I am already feeling better. For my birthday on Friday night my husband and I went out to eat at Market Street Grill in Salt Lake City. I was glad to see that I could maintain my good eating while eating out. Sometimes we think we can't eat out and still eat healthy but we can. I think I will stay away from hamburger places for a while after learning in our nutrition class how many calories and fat grams are in those. Just pick better places where you can eat healthier.

It has been a good week. I thought when I started with the nutrition part of this challenge that I would be hungry all the time but I am finding that I feel just as full as before. I think it is because instead of filling up on empty calories, I am eating much better food and feeling just as full. So I don't really feel like I am dieting.

Let me tell a little about why I wanted to be selected for the 100 day heart challenge. In 1997 my son was diagnosed with leukemia which would require 3 1/2 years of chemotherapy. That first year I completely fell apart physically and mentally and was not taking proper care of myself. At the end of the first year, I decided that I would have to get my life back in order so that I could better take care of my son. I needed to be physically well and I needed to be mentally strong and emotionally well for him. So I began exercising by walking and strength training. Through the last 13 years I have been fairly regular but I have noticed that I have not lost weight and my heart lab values were starting to creep up as was my blood pressure. I knew I was not eating and exercising in the right way. So this is why I signed up for the challenge. I would like to learn better nutrition especially as I get older and to learn better ways to exercise. I am so glad to have been chosen and appreciate the opportunity to learn to take better care of myself.