Weight Loss Blog
The Weight Loss Blog offers news and information about nutrition and fitness as well as actual weight loss success stories as told by students at Wellspring Academies, formerly Academy of the Sierras, the first boarding school for overweight teens. WSA is part of Wellspring, which also runs Wellspring weight loss camps.
The Blog started with entries by 15-year-old Jahcobie who graduated from WSA after losing 176 pounds in seven months. Then Brooke, a 17-year-old from Prescott, Arizona, took over. Our latest student blogger was Melissa, a 17-year-old from Orange County, California. Melissa recently graduated and we wish her success and she continues down her path as a "long-term weight controller."
Andy D. a 17-year-old student at Wellspring Academy spent a few months sharing his adventures in weight loss, healthy eating, and fitness fun with us before he graduated the program in June.
Now we'll continue to update you with news and information about weight lose, healthy living, and childhood obesity. We'll have a new WSA student share their stories with us beginning in the Fall.
Wellspring programs are the most effective weight loss solutions for teens available today. But don't let us tell you. Let Andy, Melissa, Brooke, and Jahcobie tell you. Read about their journeys toward successful weight management in their own words.
Monday, May 29, 2006
A Summer of Change
Let's see where can I start. I am going to be working at Wellspring New York as the administrative assistant. It is so weird. I am really excited now that my whole summer has changed and I'm nervous because I don't know what the future will hold. The only thing that I know is that I need to have hope for tomorrow. Wow! Where do I start on how my last couple of days have been? Today I was really sad and depressed because of the fact that people are leaving and it is hitting me that I am leaving soon too. I hate jealous people. Why can't everyone be happy for each other instead of all the hating that is going on? So my mind is traveling at the speed of sound right now and on top of that I am having problems with my roommate. I have to just relax and let everything flow and take its natural course.
I have major plans tomorrow now that my step mom is going to be here and I have a B.C. session. I am going home for 2 weeks, then I am off for training and everything at Wellspring New York. I am so scared of what the future is going to bring and I am excited at the same time that I will be able to be around my behavioral coach a lot and actually get to work with her. I am going to do this: I plan on losing about 30 pounds or more this summer and just taking as much from this experience as I can. I am still trying to get on MTV and that will never stop, so for now, I say adios!
Friday, May 26, 2006
Leaving On A Good Note
I am sad. Everything is ending and it is hard to say goodbye, but I know that I will have to. We had our closure group the other day and it was so sad, everybody started to cry. I am sad! I know that I will get through to the next moment, but that is ok. My friend left today and I was just thinking what happened if I would have never met her? How would me life be different? I just need to relax because I am going to see her in 2 weeks and it is going to be a good time. I am doing the video for her party.
Today's topic is leaving on a good note. I have to leave on a good note here, I refuse to leave on a bad note. I just need to keep my eye on the prize - that's what Molly said to me and that's one of the best things anyone has ever said to me. I know times get rough and our shocks wear out but we need to truck it. If we hit a bump, we get right back up. So here is my new plan for the next week:
- Keep my eye on the prize
- Self monitor 100%
- Pack up my stuff
- Don't get a repel
I am going to close with an inspirational quote: "Do not ask for a light load, but rather ask for a strong back. " - Unknown
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Getting To The Next Moment
Well, life has been ok. Today I felt like giving up. As you all know I moved up to Yabo! I got my bracelet; it is the cutest thing in the world. It got scratched up so that is the bad thing about it. I figure that I'm only going to wear it a couple of times a year and get it buffed out twice a year. I feel so proud of myself for making it to Yabo! It is so cool knowing that I can actually do it and get it done. I am a Yabo for life. All the times that I have sweat tears have all paid off and I'm glad.
Today's topic is perseverance. I know times may get rough and we all run in to our bumps in the road, but we know that there will always be tomorrow if we get through the moment. For example, I was talking to one of my good friends and she was telling me that she felt like yelling at people and showing them her crazy side. I told her all she needs to do is own the situation and get through to the next moment. That applies to everyone, just perseverance will get you through the moment and get you back into a better state. Iwill end today with a quote: "A big shot is a little shot that kept shooting. " - Unknown
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Never Give Up
I moved up to Yabo today! It feels so good knowing that I have accomplished a lot in the short time that I have been here. I am really excited to get my bracelet tomorrow. I am really happy and can't wait. I decided to take Diane with me because of how much she has helped me and motivated me. I want to breifly just talk about some of my after care plans. For one thing myselfmonitoring.com got started up today so I am very happy. I am just so ready, moving up to Yabo just gave me the boost of confidence I really needed.
I also found out that I am speaking at the transition ceremony so that is a really cool thing to have under my belt. I have to prepare a speech and have it be all powerful but that shouldn't be so hard. I am just so excited - it seems as though life is going good I am walking on cloud 9. So I am going to just end with some words of encouragement.
Never give up
Always gonna shout
Because I am in the race for victory
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Learning, Living, and Hoping
Today has been a weird day for me - there has been so much drama going on but on a good note I have a new personal commitment statement:
Learning from yesterday, Living for today, having hope for tomorrow!
So that to me just seems like where I am at right now I am really happy. I might be moving up to Yabo tomorrow so I am really happy. I just need to stay focus and keep my eyes on the prize and everything will be alright. So today's theme for me is keeping my eyes on the prize.
I had a lot of calories today and I discovered I am emotionally eating because of everything that has been going on. So tomorrow I am going to bring my calories down to 1200 and I should be all set with that. I think that life has fed me so many obstacles lately and now it's up to me to make sure I return the favor and show it how I really roll. LOL! That is funny now I'm using internet terms.
The end of the year is coming really soon and it still has not hit me so I think that I just need to end off the year right. So tomorrow I'm going to write about how everything has been and just remember that ending off on a good note is the best thing for me this day and time!
Monday, May 22, 2006
My Personal Commitment Statement
I'm trying to come up with a personal commitment statement but am having a very hard time doing so. I have a couple of ideas so here they are:
- Proving the impossible possible
- My life, my rules, and my success I choose
- My life has been on rewind for the last 8 months; now it's time to record over the bull
- No matter how much baggage I have I know how to carry the suitcases
- Success is my only option, failure is not
- Being gray every day
- Comfort in friends not comfort in food
- Learning from yesterday, living for today, hoping for tomorrow
Well, to wrap it up I don't have much to say. I'm turning in my yabo application tomorrow and my friends are fighting so I don't know what I should do. I am going to just focus on me and not get in the middle of that stuff - it is stupid.
Sunday, May 21, 2006
Being Accountable
Well, this week I went to a panel discussion in Morro Bay. The topic was: Is soda and junk food the new tobacco? I say no because I think we need to start taking more credit for our actions. Too many times I used to blame people for my weight gain, when in actuality I was the one who put the food in my mouth. So, I say today that we need to acquire accountability for our actions and move past pointing the finger on everyone but ourselves.
I need to start writing my good speech and I have so many things to do this week that it's crazy. I have finals this whole week, plus I need to not let it get to my head and have me sabotage myself. Do you feel me? I know that too many times when I started to worry about things they started to happen. I got my signature sheet on Friday so I am pretty excited. I will be moving up to Yabo on Wednesday if nothing goes wrong. I am going to get back to my work and let myself finish this journey off on a good note.
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Pressing Play on Your Life's Button
Well, it,s like the longer I am here the more I can,t seem to take this place. I know that I'm just being screwed up in the head and letting myself get this way. I think I am struggling with the idea of going back home. It's weird because I already know that I am scared to go back home, it's just that I need to start dealing with it. I feel like my life has been on rewind for the last 7 months and now the tape has ran out and it's trying to play, but the button is broke. WOW! I just realized that my life is like a tape and now it's ready to play. So I'm going to stick this out and will be the first Yabo no matter how hard life gets. I will fight for status!
Ok, so, here it is: I have been working on my Yabo application, but I am so discouraged, it's so hard and in order to move up this week I need to get my signature sheet tomorrow. My head is pounding and I need to achieve the impossible. So I decided that I am going to finish it by tomorrow and show it to Dan Barney. If he rejects me and says to wait a week or it's not good enough, I am done with it. I won't even try anymore. I am me and I come first no matter what anyone thinks.
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
My After-Care Plan
Well today I didn't get an award at summit but hopefully I will get one next week when I move up. Slowly I am going to start introducing my after care plan to you all. So today I am going to write down a list of my plans and let you all know what I want to accomplish in the next year:
- Maintain C in all classes
- Do homework before talking on the phone
- Eat 1300 calories a day
- Exercise once a day
- Self monitor 100%
- Start working
- Be on time to work
These are just some of the plans I hope to accomplish in the next year and I will do it. I'm trying to get on through life but I don't know how that is going, but anyways I'm doing ok. I have session today and after session I have study hall. 13 more days till my step mother comes!
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Quieting the Voices in Your Head
I'm really happy because this week I got 97% on my personal and social responsibilities. Life is going better then I expected it to. I notice how fast this week is going by. It's already Tuesday; it seems like just an hour ago it was Sunday. So I'm moving up next week to Yabo... I hope that I will be able to. Group was good today and I am happy that it went as good as it went. I know I have not talked about nothing to deep in a long time.
So, today I'm going to talk about quieting your voices in you head. The voices in your head are just distractions. Trying to distract you from what the real problem is. So you may say, how do I quiet the voices? Easy - you just recognize that your voices are loud and stop them from telling you what to do with your life. You are in control of your own destiny only you can decide if you want to be taken seriously. On the other hand, do you want to make lousy decisions? I know I don't, so it's is all up to you. So, sometime soon I'm going to start introducing my after care plan.
Monday, May 15, 2006
Creating a Personal Commitment Statement
15 more days until my step mother comes - I am so happy. So I decided that I am going to take her out to dinner and get her some flowers or better yet order her something special. I guess that I am in a better mood then any previous time in my life. It's weird to look back and now think that I only have like 2 weeks left before everything is over. I know I'm ready to go home. Actually I have been ready; there's only one thing that I am here for and that is to become the first Yabo! So that's a lot of motivation for me - I need a new personal commitment statement ASAP! So tonight what I am going to write out is what my purpose is and I'm going to write it based on that.
Well let me tell you today was Alisa's last day (former Behavioral coach). I am really sad, I know that it is not goodbye, it is just see you later, but no matter how much I say that to myself I still seem to think that it's goodbye. I know that were not abandoning each other so that is a good thing. She gave me the sweetest thing today for a present. She wrote out a bunch of words and made them in to pieces and told me whenever that irrational voice comes out to pick one. She wrote a bunch of words that describe me. I am going to email her a lot and just keep in contact with her as much as possible. Cuz we are forever connected!
"whether the weather is cold, whether the weather is hot
we'll be to go no matter the weather,
whether you like it or not" ( theatre exercise)
Recommitment
Sorry I haven't updated in a long time, stuff has just been hecti.c I'm really stressed out and need something to release it. This week was the fashion show - it went really good and I'm happy with the outcome. It was really good; I was stressing, running all over the place and then let me tell you it all came together. There were so many things that could have gone wrong, but it didn't. I'm so proud of the girls and boys for getting up on stage like that, it's amazing!
So today I'm going to talk about recommitment again. So why do I want to recommit? Because enough is enough and I'm going to make it to Yabo no matter how hard it gets. So let me just share some of my plan to get to it:
- self monitor 100%
- wear pedometer 200%
- do 1 hard work out a day
- stay out of drama
- get all homework done
- remember how bad I want it
For the past week I have been procrastinating about it, scared that I'm not going to get it. That's ok because I am and I will. So life is going to get better because loving me is my number one priority.
Thursday, May 11, 2006
What's With All the Haters?
Today has been an interesting day. There was a lot of drama going on. Too much for me to take. I would like to ask one question, what is with all the hates? Haters, haters and more haters. That is the title, so today I'm going to talk about why people hate on other people. For one thing, they're insecure about themselves and do not have anything better to do with there life. Think about it if your mom was giving your best friend more attention then you, you would start to talk trash about them. Am I right? Of course I'm right, no matter who you are that's normal. It just matters the extent it's taken.
So, to move on to better terms, tomorrow is the ascender and above outing, so I'm really, really happy. It's going to give me a chance to be able to go and just hang out. Life is going to be good. Just so much stuff has been happening, but I'm going to keep holding on because that's all I can really do.
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Leaving A Legacy
Well, basically I had session today. It went really good. For most of it I complained about life and how I was tired of being here. Molly just told me if I wanted to go home call my Dad. So I thought about it and I have made the decision not to quit now, instead work it through. I only have 3 more weeks left and I know I can do it. I will do it. So I am going to tonight think about a plan and fly with it. I am going to start off by leaving a legacy here because that is the type of person I am.
My old Behavioral coach Alisa is about to leave. It makes me sad and I found that out today. I am trying to break up with AOS before it breaks up with me. The truth is neither one of us needs to break up with one another. So I decided that I am going to write Alisa a letter tonight and give it to her when she comes back. I'm going to share my letter I write to Alisa tomorrow. I'm really excited and just need to get back on track and make these last 3 weeks my own. You feel me?
"I'll give my all to have just one more night with you, I'll risk my all to feel your body next to mine because I can't go on.”
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Wake Up and Put Life to Its Test
Yeah so I feel really uncertain today and sad. I want to be a Yabo so bad, but I do not know if I will ever get it. Mentally I feel drained and do not know what to do. My Behavioral coach is out early today so we did not have a session. I have double study hall so I think I am going to write down my feelings if I am done with my work early.
So basically I like someone and I don't know what to do. I know that I shouldn't get in a relationship and I know that it would not do my program any justice; besides that person would not want me. So I need to put back the pieces and find out what I'm going to do. I think that I'm going to just let the feeling pass.
I think that tomorrow I am going to wake up and just put life to its test. Ready to face it, no matter what it brings me. I hopefully can get some reassurance about the whole Yabo thing because I do not want to put my energy into something that I will never have. So I am going to close today with a simple thing;
"He love me, He loves me not , he loves me, he love me... shot"
Monday, May 08, 2006
Cherishing Who You Really Are
What comes to mind when I think about how far I have come? It seems as though life is going great and I hope to accomplish many things in my stay here. I love this place and forever I will be faithful for the things it has taught me. I think about how I used to say I hated myself when the fact was I didn't really cherish who I really was. It's taken a long time to come to where I am and I choose to hold on to it. I love life. I love life and will always love it. Molly told me I should read a
Million Little Pieces so I started reading it and so far, it's something I can relate to largely. It's about having an addiction and to me so far it shows me how much of a problem and addictive personality I have.
I think that today had made me really think about life and think about how much I am going to succeed. I was reading a bunch of my old poetry and was just thinking to myself about how much I have made rationalizing mine. I have to rat 90% of my day just to get by.
Well, I'm pretty happy in general - nothing is really bothering me. I started talking to one my old friends again and I just hope I can trust him. Life is ok, I guess, and I'm happy things are going good. Talk to you later, bye-bye
Saturday, May 06, 2006
Knowing When You're Unmotivated
To tell you all the truth, I feel really unmotivated and depressed. I have a pretty good idea what it's from. I think I'm just really sad that this week is parents week and my step mom or dad aren't here. I know that my step mom is coming in 26 days so I'm really excited. It's good to know that soon I will get to see her. I hope she can tell a difference of me, I decided that I want to lose 120 pounds at the max of 2 years. So next time I blog I will share my plan, hopefully. Well, basically if I feel like it. I am trying to not make any negative decisions right now because I am not in the right place right now. My behavioral coach is out the city for like 1 more day and it's hard being with out her. I know that I depend a lot on her presence, I know I'm going to be really sad when we have to say goodbye.
So as you all know I started my Yabo appliction - actually to tell you all the truth I am almost done with it. I think that I can actually make it. I know I can if I just put my mind to it. At the summit after this weeks one, I should be moving up, so I'm pretty excited. I want my signature sheet so I can start to get my signatures required. I know that I can do it - all it really matters is how bad I want it. I know that I just need to recognize it and move passed my negative feelings.
Thursday, May 04, 2006
Finding Fun in Being Healthy
Well, to tell you the truth today has been an ok day. I don't really have much to say but I'm content. Life is great. I started my aftercare program, well, part of it. It is cool that I can find ways of having fun in a healthy way. I'm going to join a gym when I go home so I'm pretty happy. I'm happy that I'm going to continue to do this even when I leave here. I talked to my boss today and he said that we are going to continue the blog even when I am home.
So I guess my time is slowly coming to an end and it's kind of sad but at the same time I know that I am ready. I have struggled so much to make this time the best I can. I hope that these last 26 days before my parents arrive go smoothly. I'm hoping to not get a rappel and hopefully move up to Yabo in the next 2 weeks. The assignment I have been having to do is one of the hardest things that I have had to do. I'm hoping that by Monday of next week I will be done and can focus on the other things in my life. Well, I'm going to end with a phrase:
Life is a journey, how far you walk is your call.
-Jahcobie
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Mapping Out the Future
I got my assignment for Yabo today and let me tell you, it is by far the hardest thing I have done yet. I have to map out my future and polish up my past, present, and future. I'm glad that I have a lot of the support I need within these beautiful people here. I'm going for it and the closer I get to it, the scarier it gets. I'm happy that I'm near - hopefully in the next couple of weeks I should be getting it.
So many haters. I talked to Nikki today and was telling her about a lot of the problems I was having. She taught me some new things that I'm going to start using, it's other peoples' problem if they have a problem with me. I know that I'm not perfect, but at the same time I have worked hard to get where I am. I'm happy that I have grown and am a long term weight controller. I will not let others get me down. I will rise above because this is a test for me.
I have taken this program and made it my own and this chapter is going to end soon, but I will always be around.
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Facing Irrational Fears
Today I had my first session with my new behavioral coach Molly! It was really deep and I analyzed a lot of things. I'm happy that I have her because I know after going from Alisa, anyone else would have been a hazard to my emotional growth. Well, I only have 3 more sessions left, 6 more groups, and 3 more weigh in's. It's crazy how time is going so fast that I can't seem to catch myself. My biggest fear is messing everything up, but that irrational. So to rephrase: I'm scared that I will sabotage myself in this marriage to Academy of the Sierras.
As many of you know today is my birthday so I'm really happy about that. I know with age comes more responsibility. I have came up with some goals that I hope to accomplish while I'm here for the next 28 days:
- wake up every morning
- self monitor 100%
- figure out risk factors for emotional relapse
- end on a good note
- try my best to become the first Yabo!
That's about it for today. Tomorrow I will update you and tell you how my night went.
Monday, May 01, 2006
Being Healthy Is The Best Birthday Present Ever
Today was good - better than last night, I tell you. Well, I am doing ok as far as my program; I went for a workout today. I was walking on the treadmill really fast while I was listening to Chris Brown. I think I had a good day. I'm working on the fashion show a lot. I actually need to get it done. I can't wait till the end of the semester comes becuase I will not have a lot of things on my chest and I can actually take a breather. Well, I'm doing good - tomorrow is weigh in so I'm excited about that. Plus I have a behavioral coach session so I'm happy with that.
Tomorrow is my birthday which means I turn 16 - I can't wait. I never believed that I would be alive, I always thought that I would not be alive. Look at me now: I'm going to be 16 and I weight 320 pounds that the best thing anyone could ever give me. Tonight I'm going on a walk with my behavioral coach so I'm really happy about that. I think I want to talk about how I'm doing as far as my program and what it means to be 16. A year ago I was spending my birthday drinking and doing drugs. I'm happy that that was the old me, this is the new me. Well, tomorrow I don't know what it brings, but whatever it is I will be ready for it. Oh yeah, and I get my Yabo application tomorrow so I'm really happy about that. I'm going to reach for the stars. Heck Yes! Well I'll update more tomorrow, until then goodbye!
