Two years ago, Lori was chosen as one of our first W.O.W employees of the month after starting her health and wellness journey. One of her biggest motivators has been to keep up with her son Sean. After becoming a runner and calorie counting she lost over 40 pounds. We recently sat down with Lori to learn what she’s been up to and see where her lifestyle changes have taken her.
Lori’s journey hasn’t been without trials. After losing over 40 pounds she ended up gaining some of the weight back.
“I did the bounce back, I did the yoyo. After I lost the 40 pounds I went on a two-week vacation and I gained back the weight and I was so disappointed. I knew I had to get back again,” said Lori.
That’s when Lori’s mom introduced her to HealthyWage, a website and app that uses cash prizes as a motivator for weight loss. It’s not a weight loss program but an incentive program where individuals bet on themselves.
“In my case I said I would lose 50 pounds in 6 months and I did $65 dollars a month. I didn’t quite reach my goal in 6 months so it let me extend another 6 months. I did reach my goal and at the end I received a sizeable check. My mom and I both did this and we both came up with the best return on investment. It was a huge incentive and for me it was motivation to keep going. It was the fact that it helped motivate me to lose weight,” said Lori.
Strategy and timing are a huge part of Lori’s wellness journey and along with using resources like HealthyWage and the LoseIt app to calorie count, she also incorporates fitness into her everyday life including when she goes on vacation.
“This year we went to Europe and there was no calorie counting there. Sean and I had a goal that we wanted to do a run in every country. We ran in the Alps, Germany and Austria,” Lori said.
After 4 years in the Airforce and 10 years in law enforcement where she was told she had to run, for the first time in her life Lori is really enjoying running. This year Lori will do the 10-miler run again that she’s done since she first started her health and wellness journey. Her family friend, Marv who helped train her for the police academy also does the race every year.
“I’ll do it every year until Marv stops doing it. He’s in
his 90’s and as long as he’s doing it I’m going to do it,” said Lori.
Lori’s story is inspiring and proof that although there may be ups and downs in
your health and wellness journey, the most important thing is to never give up
and that may mean starting over.