I lost 18 lbs and all I got was a lousy t-shirt

I said this to the guys at the gym the other day. They closed the door in my face. :)

So yesterday was the big day! Hubby gave me the easy peasy directions to get to me to the station (I only had to make two turns) and I didn't get lost. I was very proud of myself. When I got to the station, the woman who I had guessed won was there. She wins everything. She's won numerous tickets to various things through the station, tickets to every concert at the Strawberry Festival (which I've yet to go to), and now she won the Waist Watchers Contest. The first time we met she talked about all the Super Bowl parties she got to attend...for free...because she apparently knows the right people. This time we got to listen to her talk about her upcoming trip to Costa Rica and how she gets to travel the whole country. Now she's adding a free weekend trip to New York City. I know I can't complain because I knew from the start I wouldn't win. But that doesn't mean I didn't try (to win, not complain).

Here's a little background for those of you who haven't had the pleasure of following RMS Snowdrop from the beginning:
In January I realized I was fat (for me), thighs touching, muffin top sagging over jeans, back fat, 140 lbs (was 120 lbs in September), joined Sexy by Summer contest on mom website in Janurary which led to joining Waist Watchers contest in February which was formed by the president of Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center who wrote a funny musical about people trying to lose weight, winner gets tickets to last show, weekend trip to NYC, tickets to a show there, plus a free year membership at AnyTime Fitness. Yes, I know that was a HUGE run on sentence, deal with it. I can only get away with it because my editor is in Italy.

So, I'm at the station with Winner Woman and one other contestant that showed up, Nice Woman. The trainer I worked with at the gym, Douglas, was unable to come to the station so Dave (another trainer) showed up. Right away he offered us two free sessions with him...score! We went into the green room (which, BTW, was white) and took turns getting on the scale. Winner Woman went first and was still over 200 but lost 26 pounds (although on air they said 33 but whatever). Nice Woman got on and was just under 200 and lost 19 pounds. Me in my cute little, form fitting, spaghetti strap sundress got on the scale........119.0. I shot both arms in the air and said, "YES!" I wanted to be under 120 lbs. I decided not to catch a glimpse of the dagger eyes that were most likely being shot my way.

So Winner Woman went on the air with Dave in his AnyTime Fitness t-shirt (no one from the Waist Watchers Musical bothered to show up), and News Guy announced that she was the winner of the weight loss contest. I'm going to get hate email for this but this is my blog and I can say whatever I want, so there! IN MY OPINION the station looked like big fools. I think it's great that Winner Woman lost however much she lost and I hope that she continues to lose. However, she still looked very big. I don't think her oversized shirt helped her any along with the 10 pounds they say the camera adds. I received more than one text asking, "What the heck did she look like before?" while I was there. IN MY OPINION, if someone is going to do a weight loss contest they should keep track of how the contestants are doing, do it by percentage of body fat lost, and have before pictures to compare so people can see the difference. This is why I posted my Thing 1 and Thing 2 pictures. Quick shout out to the poor woman who got stuck with this assignment half way through. She did a great job and always answered my quetions and phone calls very quickly. It was great to finally meet her yesterday.

Ok, so whatever, Winner Woman won the contest. If I tell you right now what happened after she was on the air it will ruin my next gripe so you'll have to wait a minute.

I made it home without getting lost (yay for me!), fixed myself a SMALL plate of take out BBQ (thanks Hubby!) and sat down to watch the news segment that Hubby recorded for me. I got so irritated and yelled to Hubby and at the TV the whole time I was watching. AnyTime Fitness offered all of the contestants a three month free membership to use during the contest. I was the only one who used it as most said it was too far to drive...hello! FREE! So News Guy asked Winner Woman how she lost the weight. She talked about walking 4-6 miles a day (Toot! Toot! for her, I think that's great) and how she used The Flat Belly Diet book. Dave offered her, on air, two free sessions with him and she talked right over him showing no interest at all in going to the gym. IN MY OPINION, AnyTime Fitness got totally screwed. I started yelling to Hubby about how, if I'd been on the air, I'd have gladly accepted Dave's offer (I'm all about free stuff). I'd also have talked about how often I used the gym, how nice and helpful everyone was, how encouraging they all were to me about the contest, and how I couldn't have lost my 18 pounds without using their facility and especially how great my training sessions were with Douglas.

Winner Woman never used the gym. She explained that she tried to go twice but it was closed early due to it being Gasparilla weekend (Mardi Gras for Tampa but pirate style....Arrrrr!) and she tried to call Guy Who Gave Me Two High Fives Last Tuesday Because I Made It To The Gym Twice In One Day but she said he never answered his phone (BTW, that's not really his name). Nice Woman lives an hour away but did do a consult with Douglas and had very high praises for him. Toot! Toot! Douglas!

The title of this post is false. Like Douglas told me the day before the final weigh in, I won because I lost 18 lbs and got my body back. I did get a T-shirt but it's far from lousy. I will wear it proudly because AnyTime Fitness provided me a place to work out away from home which is what I needed. I'm thinking about putting "AnyTime Fitness and Body by Douglas helped me get Sexy by Summy" on the back. By sending Douglas to the first weigh in, I was paired up with a trainer who is very knowlagable, pushy, and stayed on my butt which is what I needed. He developed a meal plan and exercise routine that I didn't always follow but followed enough to lose 18 lbs. Although a trip to New York City would have been nice I really wanted the gym membership.

This is what happened when the segment was over:

After Winner Woman was finished on the air we were all chatting in the green room. Dave asked her and Nice Woman if they lived in Tampa. Both said no. He asked me if I did and I said, "Yes."



I GOT THE MEMBERSHIP!!!

I was so excited that I stopped by the gym on my way home so I could sign the contract. I still have 38 days left in the Sexy by Summer contest and still have a lot of work to do. I am grateful to the president of the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center for writing Waist Watchers and developing the contest to bring awareness to the musical. I'm grateful to Channel 10 news for being a sponsor. I am most grateful to AnyTime Fitness for allowing me to use their gym during the contest and for the next year. Douglas knows how grateful I am to him because I've sent him emails and text messages telling him so.

So, the Waist Watchers portion of this blog has come to an end. It's the reason I started blogging. It gave me the kick in the butt I needed to start writing. But don't worry, RMS Snowdrop will hopefully be afloat for a very long time.

Feel free to email rmssnowdrop@yahoo.com