EXTRA! EXTRA!! Read All About It....MY BIG NEWS!!!!!!!!!!

So, I received an email yesterday from (you're not gonna believe this), Canadian Olympic medalist, Alison Korn. She won a silver medal in Atlanta (1996) and a bronze medal in Sydney (2000) in Rowing (womens coxed eights)!! She's a freelance sports writer who writes for The Ottawa Citizen ( for my blogger friends outside of Ottawa - that's our major newspaper) and a number of other newspapers/magazines including the Toronto Sun.

Anyway, she contacted ME, requesting an interview as she would like to feature ME and the story of my weight loss journey in NEXT WEEK'S PAPER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you believe it??? She even checked out my blog!! My little old blog!! Crazy and wonderful all at the same time!!! Anyhoo, I spoke to her for about an hour yesterday responding to her questions regarding my journey, weight loss, program, exercise etc. She was quite friendly and easy to talk to and well you know I don't have a problem talking!!

So after completing the interview, she said that she will need to send over a photographer to take some pics. The timing could not have been more perfect. I told her that I was meeting my trainer in the morning at his training studio and it would be a good place to take the pics...but I needed to contact him just to confirm. She said no problem and asked that I call her back. I called Rob and left him a message...I was so excited I'm not even sure of what I said...I also sent him an email..Anyway, he responded that it would not be a problem - thanks for that, Rob!!

This morning, the photograper showed up bright and early, right on time at Rob's studio to take our pics.

When I woke up this morning, I was thinking, "maybe I should really pretty myself up for this". Then I thought, no way, I'm gonna be sweating and working my ass off (because Rob doesn't play when it comes to working out) I'm just gonna be me, just gonna be real...and that's exactly what I did (although I did spend a little time on my hair this morning)LOL!! Nothing major - just simple! :)

The photographer was friendly and it was over in minutes. My only request to him was to ensure that he did not take any unflattering butt shots!! He obliged :) , took the pics and was out of there. Rob and I continued on with the program!

You know, when I first decided to go public with my journey, I must admit that there were somewhat selfish reasons behind it. For one, I knew if I went public I would stand a better chance of succeeding because I did not want to fail or quit and have to inform and/or justify it to everyone. I also wanted to show people (especially those struggling with weight) that this could be done, THERE IS HOPE!

Over the last 6 weeks, I've come to really appreciate what going public with this journey is doing for me and others. First, I have and continue to receive such an amazing amount of support - it's incredible, thank you. I have also met so many people with the exact same struggles (some even worse) and they look to this blog and facebook group for support an inspiration. That's just amazing to me. What's rewarding to me is the number of individuals who have been inspired by what I'm trying to accomplish and have started "journeys" of their own. That makes me happy!!

Now, this feature in the Citizen, just means that I will be able to reach even more people and show them that a regular, fulltime working-wife and mother of a 2yr old can accomplish these goals. It's awesome!! I WILL SUCCEED (now more than ever!!)

So that's my BIG NEWS!! The article should be in Wednesday's paper (Health Section) but I will confirm that shortly!! I'm excited!!

Until then....

Joania (2K MINE!!!)