Fattie Update: I've Touched Someone Who Has Touched Oprah

I forget which week of the HASAY challenge it is. It feels like it’s about week 40, doesn‘t it? But it couldn’t be, I haven’t known Casey (HASAY founder) that long. I think we found each other in August or September, but it seems I‘ve known my blonde, BMXin‘ friend forever. (In a good way, Casey, in a good way.)

Anyway, I’ve stopped counting the weeks I’ve been participating in HASAY. For me, crossing another week off the calendar does absolutely nothing for my motivation to get healthy. You know what does motivate me? I’ll tell you.

Nothing. Absolutely nothing motivates me to lose weight. I’ve been waiting around for years, yes, years, looking for motivation to get up off my comfy sofa and lose weight. As a matter of fact, I did so much sitting and waiting for motivation, that one day I decided that my green suede sofa was no longer a suitable place to waste the days away. So you know what I did next? I convinced Jeremy that we needed a new sofa set and a few days later, we were the proud owners of a pair of chocolate leather sofa recliners. Can you say heavenly? Everything wipes off those suckers. Nachos, cream soups, cheesecake smudges, everything. And that's just breakfast.

So yeah, I’m not easily moved or motivated to lose weight it seems. But a wise woman once told me, “Sometimes you can’t wait around for the motivation. You’ve just got to get up and do it. The motivation comes later.”

Brilliant huh?

That nugget of wisdom came from one of my very best friends, Julee. You might have seen a few of her comments on this here blog as JuleeSLC. She’s my own personal Oprah. Not because she’s beautiful, and has a fiancé and the best wardrobe, like ever, but because she pronounces “John Travolta” as “JOHN TRA-VOL-TAAAAA!” just the way Lady O says it.

Oh, and did I tell you that Julee lost over 125 lbs? Yeah, she did. Without motivation.

She also met Oprah.

Oh. Yes. She. Did.

My dearest Julee appeared on an Oprah weight loss special featuring women that had lost weight, and more importantly changed their lives by adhering to a more healthful way of living prescribed by Bob Green. Here’s Julee’s before and after pictures as featured on Oprah’s website.

Now, let me just clarify one thing. I’ve known Julee for over a decade and she's never, ever looked like the before picture on the left. Sure she was a little heavier, but she never dressed frumpy like that. Lady O’s producers forced her to dig up the oldest and potentially unflattering photos she had. To me, Julee’s always looked like the woman on the right. She’s absolutely stunning. Always has been.

I was so proud of her for losing all the weight. I still am. After her Oprah episode aired, I called her and just wept to her over the phone. We cried together. (You should know that I also called Julee crying after the Sex and The City series finale, as well as the Will and Grace and Friends

finales.) She nice to let me call and just whimper into the phone receiver like that.

Funny side story about Julee’s Oprah adventure. When Lady O's producers initially contacted her to see if she wanted to fly off to Chicago, meet Oprah and appear on national television, Julee actually suspected that I was playing a trick on her. She asked me if I had set up a fake phone call from third party posing to be a producer from Oprah's show.

I was all, “Honey, no. Although I do have a history of pranks on the phone, it’s just not my style to go into such elaborate detail for a joke. No, it’s much more my style to just relentlessly call you and hang up.”

Anyway, back to Julee’s brush with Oprah. I guess I would have to say, the only disappointment I had with the whole ordeal is that when she went off to Chicago to meet Oprah, I sent her with three specific goals. 1) Find out if the big O has six toes on one foot. (I’ve heard rumors.) 2) Get Oprah to say “John Tra-vol-taaaa!”, and 3) Mention my name on national television.

Julee, wisely, did none of these things.

So what’s my point here today? Well, I guess my point is that I’m copping to the fact that I have no motivation to lose weight, but lately I’ve still been getting up off of that comfy, stain-free sofa to exercise my sorry, out of shape bootie. I think of Julee whenever I search for the will to pop in a Pilates DVD or take a brisk walk on our neighboring trail. She accomplished something wonderful without needing any motivation to get her started.

Julee set her sights high. She lost the weight, kept it off and was driven through the streets of Chicago in a limo while she snacked on Chicago-style pizza, all courtesy of Oprah. If I stay focused, stay disciplined and lose some weight, maybe I can live the dream too. But for now, I’ll settle for exercising four days a week and being shuttled through the streets of Salt Lake City, eating a meat-lovers pizza in the back of my friend’s van.

Scratching your head, wondering what the heck HASAY is? Go here to find out.

My previous HASAY posts can be found here.