And today, I had an epiphany after watching the first episode of the second season of Extreme Make-over: Weight Loss edition. This man named Tony really made me cry buckets of tears today. He was extremely focused on making a change in his life. And he did that while he was dealing with some very real struggles in his life:

His relationship fell apart when he started getting more into losing weight. 

He lived in his car while still staying faithful to his diet and fitness regimen.

He lost his son after a long battle with an illness.

Despite all these challenges, he found a way to dig deep and channel his energy into succeeding in his journey. And so he did. He lost 200lbs - that's like losing one other person!

His weight loss is just one of a few successes he's had since he was on the show:

He is now back in a relationship with his girlfriend.

He's got a new career.

He's engaged.

MOST importantly, he looked damn happy.

I cannot really say that I am unhappy with my current weight. Let's just say I can definitely look better, feel better. I just realized that I've gone overboard when I started panting after climbing the stairs at work last week. When we had a New Year's Eve picnic, we walked the entire day. I started sweating like crazy and felt very uncomfortable. I am starting to feel heavy and that has to change.

So, here are the small steps I am going to take effective immediately:

- Avoid soda (Longest I've gone without softdrinks was 7 days. Surely, I can do better than that.)

- 1 cup of rice per day

- Avoid sweets

- Avoid fastfood

- Eat more fruits

- Eat vegetables (This is going to be the toughest part of this challenge.)

- Exercise more

- Walk/Run a few more KMs every week

Every time I stumble, I will think of Tony and his success story. So inspiring! You should be inspired too!

PS: Thank you Chris Powell! You are my favorite trainer in the entire Reality TV world!