tc trimdown, traverse city trimdown, jane boursaw, pat sharpnack, carol goslin, weight loss, get healthy, health goals, old mission gazette, old mission peninsula, old mission, old mission michigan, peninsula township
Jane Boursaw at Mission Point Lighthouse on Jan. 2, 2019, day before the start of TC Trimdown 2019 | Marissa Boursaw Photo
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I was always skinny as a kid. Even into my 30s and 40s – after having two kids – I was thin. Sometimes too thin. People worried about me. Even I worried about me. I couldn’t gain weight, thanks to my Johnson DNA. We are a family of worriers, which can wreak havoc with a digestive system.

But life happens, and sometimes trauma tags along. My body chemistry changed over time, and I no longer have the problem of being too skinny. Now I have the opposite problem of having to LOSE weight. In many ways, I would rather have this problem than the previous one. If you’re already thin and you can’t eat, well, that’s not good. At least with extra weight, you’ve got a little bit of a buffer if you can’t eat.

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Now, even though I eat pretty well most of the time (my husband Tim and son Will do most of the cooking around here, and they’re excellent healthy chefs), I have a powerful sweet tooth and could easily eat an entire chocolate cake if you put it in front of me. That and salty snacks are my downfall. Entire bag of chips? No problem. I can take care of that for you. Cheese and crackers? Yes, please.

But thanks to regular exercise and Weight Watchers, I’ve managed to stay in the 180s for most of the past ten years, sometimes venturing into the 190s, even while eating the cafeteria food at U of M Hospital on a somewhat regular basis. They really do have healthy food there if you make good choices.

But I’m sick of being in the 180s and 190s, so I’m doing the TC Trimdown (read more here) with some pals (Go, Team “Sore Losers”!), and I have a big goal of losing 40 lbs. during the 13 week challenge.

If my calculations are correct, that comes out to about 3 lbs. a week. That’s do-able, right? It helps to have a specific time frame to complete a goal. For me, right now, that time frame is 13 weeks.

tc trimdown, traverse city trimdown, jane boursaw, pat sharpnack, carol goslin, weight loss, get healthy, health goals, old mission gazette
TC Trimdown Team “Sore Losers” (l to r, 3 of our 4 members) Pat Sharpnack, Jane Boursaw and Carol Goslin (missing: Tammy Krentz) | Deb Lange Photo

I’ve decided to log my weight loss journey here on Old Mission Gazette. That way, if you see me reaching for a brownie at a library, church or historical society meeting, feel free to slap that thing right out of my hand and replace it with a carrot stick. I’m counting on you guys to hold me accountable!

The official weigh-in for the TC Trimdown was Jan. 3, 2019 at the Hagerty Center in Traverse City. I weighed in at 196 lbs. My own scale at home is 3 lbs. less, so I have to tack on an extra 3 lbs. to my home weigh-ins. Henceforth, I will be including those extra 3 lbs. when I report in here.

TC TRIMDOWN – WEEK ONE

Today was our first “home weigh-in” – the teams are now weighing in at home, with our captain logging our weights into the TC Trimdown system online. The official final weigh-in will be at the Hagerty Center on April 4, 2019.

My weight today is 189.6, so I’m down 6.4 lbs. from last week. Off to a good start. Only 33.6 lbs. to go to reach my self-imposed 40-lb. challenge.

Here’s the plan:

I’ve already purged the house of junk food and stocked up on fruits, veggies and healthy foods.

No sugar or salty snacks (I find it difficult to have “just a little”).

No eating at night, except for fruit and veggies.

I’m a Weight Watchers girl, so I’m carefully logging in all my foods and exercise, and checking out new recipes on their website to stave off food boredom. Special shout-out to my longtime pal and accountability buddy, Ruthanne Bohrer-Agosa, for helping me stay on track over the years (and listening to me whine along the way).

I’ve been walking every day – I love to walk the Old Mission Peninsula trails – and I’m in the process of reclaiming my exercise space in the house. Time to dust off the many exercise DVDs on my shelves.

I also do a yoga class once a week with Sally Van Vleck at the Neahtawanta Inn. I’ve been doing yoga there for about 15 years and highly recommend Sally’s class. She’s the best.

Happy Health to you all! Stay tuned for next week’s report!

SUPPORT YOUR INDEPENDENT LOCAL NEWSPAPER: I started Old Mission Gazette in 2015 because I felt a calling to provide the Old Mission Peninsula community with local news. After decades of writing for newspapers and magazines like the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Family Circle and Ladies' Home Journal, I really just wanted to write about my own community where I grew up on a cherry farm and raised my own family. So I started my own newspaper.

Because Old Mission Gazette is a "Reader Supported Newspaper" -- meaning it exists because of your financial support -- I hope you'll consider tossing a few bucks our way if I mention your event, your business, your organization or your news item, or if you simply love reading about what's happening on the OMP. In a time when local news is becoming a thing of the past, supporting an independent community newspaper is more important now than ever. Thank you so much for your support! -Jane Boursaw, Editor/Publisher, Old Mission Gazette

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4 COMMENTS

  1. You go Miss Jane! I am a sweet/salty so I do understand. Have you tried the Harvest Snaps? They are baked green snap peas and come in several flavors. Helps with the crunch issue for me.

  2. For the salty cravings, get a bag of edamame in the shell, microwave then salt with sea salt and eat warm. Birds’ Eye Makes a good product. Fiber, protein vitamins and green! It’ll cure a potato chip addiction!

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