If there is any word to sum up our dear friend Sara, it has to be inspirational. Although it may have been a long road to get there, this remarkable lady proved to herself and to the world that absolutely nothing can hold you back from accomplishing your goals!
Sara’s journey was simply amazing and I am so excited to hear what she has to say about her stunning transformation!
Heidi: Sara, my friend!! I don’t even know where to begin. You overcame so much this year and completely exceeded everyone’s expectations – including Chris’ and?mine! What was that journey like for you?
Sara: The journey was incredible. Really there are no words to describe this last year. I thought I was going just to lose weight, but I lost so much more. I lost what was holding me back for years. I never believed in myself and this was the year I started ?to believe I was just as important as the next person and that I did matter.
H: You were met with so much adversity from the very beginning even with Chris questioning whether or not you could handle the challenges! How did it feel to prove everyone wrong?
S: I won’t lie, the challenges were hard. At first, I even questioned myself as to whether or not I could handle them. I think I saw this opportunity to prove myself wrong and so many other people. I learned that I held myself back from doing things for so many years. I didn’t want that anymore. I wanted to do things just like everyone else was doing. I may have to do some things a little differently than others, but I learned that I was still doing something. I was also doing more than the people that didn’t want to make any change at all.
We are all different and all have different obstacles every day that we just have to get out and overcome. It was great to do things and watch people’s reactions when I did them. I love telling people I ran a marathon and seeing their mouths drop. I hope people will realize, like I did, there is a way to overcome physical obstacles and it doesn’t matter that you have to do things differently. All that matters is that you are doing something to better yourself.
H: So very inspirational, Sara :). Like you said, a lot of people judged you and assumed your height would hold you back from making a full transformation, but it absolutely didn’t stop you one bit! What do you think your biggest obstacle really was?
S: Myself! I would feel bad when everyone was finishing and I still had a lot to do. Then I thought to myself, hey I’m doing it!! I figured out as the year went along, everybody has their strengths. Some things I found that I could do easier than other people such as squats and my favorite-burpees!! I also learned that the only one you should be in competition with is yourself. Just compare yourself to who you were the day before and that is all that should matter.
H: Okay Sara…spill it!! Tell us some of the greatest, and not-so-great moments during your transformation.
S: I will start with my least favorite…weigh-ins. I remember the nights before we weighed in were the worst. At times, it did get frustrating when my body was slow to lose the weight. However, you and Chris were always there to help me troubleshoot and support me in ways beyond what I imagined.
My favorite parts were getting to know the rest of the contestants from Season 4. We were together for 3 months during boot camp and we became family. We all support and want the best for each other. I am so blessed by the opportunity of going on the journey of transformation together with them. It was fun to get to know them and learn from all of them about their experiences and unique things each of us had to offer.
I also loved my 6 month challenge in Hawaii. It was the first time I had ever been on an island! It was so beautiful, and I was blessed with the opportunity of running my marathon there. Then…the marathon!! Crossing the finish line was unbelievable. I am so blessed that you and Chris believed in me enough to let me run the full marathon. Finishing the marathon is something that no one will ever be able to take from me and no one helped me do it except myself. You and Chris supported me and encouraged me and gave me the tools to help prepare myself, but I did it!!
H: Such a huge accomplishment!! I hope you know how truly proud we are of you! So what’s new in Sara’s world since the show ended?
S: I moved to Arizona and got a job at a university. I have stayed active doing Cross Fit, hikes, gym time, and different fun things with groups of people I have had the pleasure of meeting. I love to explore the different happenings in Arizona. I have been skydiving, fly boarding, ?sight seeing, gone to movies, a couple dates, and I am loving being involved in yours and Chris’ organization?Be Your Best AZ.?
?Oh my goodness, it sounds like you are just living life to the fullest!! I love it!! I am so happy for you, Sara, and so grateful for the inspiration you have been to so many…myself included!
xoxo,
Heidi
45 Responses
Transformation happens through. unwavering focus you proved it again thankyou !!!
Sara thanks for sharing such an informative article with us. It inspired me a lot 🙂
Just watched the episode with Sara. I’m so impressed that she really finished that maraton. I think I couldn’t have done it myself and I’m like 1,80 m with long legs. I really could realite to her story of being picked on for her height, even though being in the oposite end of the scale. When I was younger it bothered me when always having to wear to short jeans and when photographed in a crowd my head was sticking up like a hat, but now I don’t care anymore, in fat I’m love walking around in high heels. It’s not always fun to being asked “You’re so tall could you take that ting down for me” instead of just asking for help. When painting my living room I had to look around to find a chair that was low enough as I was to short to stand just on the flor painting the up per part, but to tall to get up on a normal chair or a ladder, but I can now also see the benefits of being tall. What I’m trying to say it’s that your height is not what makes your personality, and I think Sara’s personality is the most incredible I’ve ever sen on the extreme weight loss series, and I think I have watched almost 4 seasons. One moment that impressed me watching Sara was when she stod in front of that 50cm tall wooden case and couldn’t jump up on it, but then she said to herse that it is just her will that stop her, and then she jumped right up as it had suddenly shrunk to just being an inch tall. It showet me that if you want it enough you CAN do it. In 2014 I was at a friends funeral, and it made me want to do something about my body as I realized it could be me next time. I decided to loose weight also because it was the only thing I had not tried to make my Fibromyalgia get better. I also at that point struggled with gallstone and had several attacks. I really a lot about weightloss, but it was the extreme weight loss show with Rachel I think her name was, that made me think that I spent half a century being fat, so if I was going to loose the weight and sta there I had to do it in a year. One year later I had lost 66 pounds (30kg), but now after I had a cholecystectomy I have gained 13 pounds because the last six months before the surgery I couldn’t eat anything with fat, even sallad made me sick and I was not eating well because I couldn’t, and people started to yell about me being anorexic, the only people who did not say anything about being to skinny was my doctor, he was really a surgeant, but now worked as a regular med. Dr, but he understood why I was so skinny due to the gallstones and he requiered the operation that my former Dr. said was not necessary because my blood showed no signs of gallstone, (I had an ultrasound the same week that she claim ed that, that showed several stones), but she then told me that I should have several attacks before she would requiered an operation so I had 24 gallstone attacks before it was remove, but just because it took so long I have had problems with kidney stones and UTI and Fibromyalgia getting worse and really bad migraine attacks holding me back from working out as much as I wanted to. (I asked my current Dr. and he found out that I had hyperparathyroidism with my kidneys starting to fail and severe d vitamin deficiency so he said to me to work out but not to hard. Now that I had treatment for all those issues I can start to work out more, but it has been so long so my body is not responsive, and I loose muscles instead of gaining them, and that made me stop work out for a few week, but now it’s real hard to work out and I really struggle to do things that was easy 1 year ago, but watching Sara today gave me a kick in my butt, and I will think of her when I struggle and think that if she could do it, so can I, and I will loose those pounds in a heartbeat if I want to. My goal is not to be think, but to be normal and healthy, with healthy meaning better than today. With my new Med. Dr. being a specialist in fysical medecine and rehab I think it is possible to maybe someday be healthy as in the full meaning. (He look a little like Harry Potter, so it could be magic). Being sick is not a good enough excuse anymore, I’m sick of being sick, so when my body hurts badly instead of eating pain medecine I work out with my fitness ball and weights and my corestep machine, and slowly It will help loosing those pounds or loose fat and gain muscles preferably. Thanks to you Heidi, and to Chris and to you Sara for helping me. (Sorry about my spelling, I’m Norwegian so it’s not always easy to find the right words in English).