My name is Michelle Howa, and I’ve lost 47 pounds. I gained 50 pounds in pretty quick timeframe, and I just stopped caring. I’ve done Weight Watchers, I had done the Paleo diet. I had a trainer. I was an athlete growing up, and it was just really frustrating that none of this was working for me. I’d never been this overweight. Having that team to support you, I’ve never had anything like that before. I always was doing it on my own, and I think it was easy to get really derailed. The quiz that I took at the beginning helped me realize that I’m a meal-skipper. That was just one thing that I was going to focus on throughout the programs is not skipping meals anymore, and now I don’t. Stephanie and I talked about that. I was eating at the end of the day, so then I was just binging at night. When you’re hungry, you’re not making good food choices. Being able to plan my meals throughout the day; I was hungry in the morning so I was ready for breakfast. I was able to listen to my body a lot more and it was telling me when I was hungry, it’s time to eat. I couldn’t skip lunch anymore because I was hungry at lunchtime. It was really exciting. The first 6 months, I think I was down 20, 25 pounds in the first 6 months, which I didn’t think it would be that fast. I’d been overweight for about 5, 6 years, so it was a nice change to see it fast; kept me motivated. The scale, easy. It’s just exciting from Day 1 because you can see your weight, and then it shows you your BMI. To watch that change has been really exciting. This is my Fitbit; I wear it every day. I get up in the morning and hook it onto my pocket. It tracks my steps. All of the information and the data from the Fit Bit, from your steps, to your miles, to the floors, it’s all uploaded to the dashboard as well, so my team can see that. Really easy to use; I don’t have to do anything with it. I go from 0 to 60, that’s how I do things, and then I quit. This really slowed it down for me so that I could look at exercise differently. It’s a stress reliever now. It helps me sleep. It’s just part of my day, where before, it was just one more thing I had to do. The information that’s uploaded onto your dashboard, it’s the good and the bad. The bad is really what helps your team change your habits because those are the moments that you need the most help. They’ve given me everything I need. Now I get to really stand on my own two feet and keep myself motivated. It’s all habit now. It wasn’t a diet, it wasn’t a quick fix, this was a lifestyle change for m etting up every day and exercising, and planning my meals, all part of my day and who I am now. I have a lot more energy than I used to, I’m making new friends, I’m going out more. It’s fun to go shopping. This just changed everything; how I feel about myself every day. I didn’t think I could do it, and I did. I did it and it’s amazing. I feel amazing. I love life again. I told my team that I feel like this change has saved my life.