"Birthday" by Melissa Schwab, Gold's Gym Challenge Participant

Who else is celebrating a birthday during the challenge? I celebrated mine this last weekend and had to make a few modifications to my normal traditions. My kids were especially disappointed that there wasn’t any cake this year. I wasn’t sure how much FUN it was going to be without having all the “normal” food, dessert and alcohol. I was so wrong. I didn’t really end up missing those things. We went out for a sensible dinner and even went out and burned a few calories dancing. I had lots of FUN minus the calories. I admit that in the moment it was tempting but it was great to know at the end of the night that I didn’t blow my whole diet. Thank you to my friends and family for making my birthday a special one. I realized how blessed I am by having so many wonderful people in my life. I realized that I don’t need “emotional comfort” from food to make me happy. It was a much better feeling to have my friends and family see how far I’ve come on my weight-loss journey. And I got to do a little clothes shopping for my birthday too…it felt awesome to be shopping and FITTING in smaller sizes!