Here is our official Body by Vi Champion entry:
Traci, Lynn and Sam all grew up in the Ste. Genevieve, Mo area attending school together. Traci and Lynn were neighbors. Mike grew up about 20 miles south in Perryville, Mo. Dawn was raised in St. Louis, but her family moved to Ste. Genevieve before her junior year of high school where she met Sam on her first day of classes. They would marry 15 years later. Lynn and Mike would one day meet and then marry as well.
In July of 2012, Traci was invited to attend ViSalus' Vitality event in Miami, Florida. She was overwhelmed by the event, the company and the founders' vision. Her husband Jerry and she decided to join and signed up as promoters of the Challenge. Among her first calls were old friends Sam/Dawn and Lynn/Mike. She saw in them the need for the Challenge as well as the heart and compassion to help others as well. Both couples eventually signed up on both counts.
From that beginning in the second half of 2012, these five friends began an incredible journey that took them further than they ever imagined. In their first two months, Traci achieved the business rank of National Director and Sam/Dawn became Regional Directors. But more important, their weight loss story was already in full swing as they had each lost between 15 and 35 lbs.
By the end of their first 90 days, goals were hit and new goals were being set. Losing 50 pounds had seemed an aggressive goal, but suddenly the group was raising their eyes to a higher prize - 100 pounds seemed achievable now.
In 2013, Mike/Lynn achieved a promotion to Regional Director and then Sam/Dawn moved up to National Director. As the business continued going up, the pounds went down.
In September 2013, Sam became the first of the group to join the 100 lb Club. Two months later, Dawn joined him as they became one of the rare 100 lb couples in Visalus' 100 lb Club. Soon after another team mate Brian Beckermann hit the 100 lb mark. It was in early summer 2014, Traci crossed the 100 pound loss threshold to become the 4th member of her team to lose 100 lbs.
It was then that it was decided that Sam, Dawn and Traci would lock arms with Mike and Lynn as a team on a 90 day Challenge. Together they inspired and encouraged each other. It was soon after returning from the Houston NST event that first Mike, and then Lynn hit their 100 lb goals and became not just the 5th and 6th members of the team to join the 100 lb club, but also the 2nd married couple as well.
So, what can we say to you reading this that may offer encouragement and inspiration? How about this.
In the beginning, none of us planned on losing 100 lbs. When we set our goals, some of us tossed out numbers like 40 or 50, but the truth is each of us would have been quite happy with 25-30 and didn't expect more than that. 100 pounds? Well, that would have been crazy talk.
But do you know what else is crazy?
- Five close friends losing 100 pounds each - that's crazy.
- Four high school classmates losing 100 pounds each - that's crazy.
- Three childhood friends earning a BMW while losing 100 pounds each - that's crazy.
- Two couples losing 100 pounds each - that's crazy.
- One local team with more than 5 people losing 100 lbs each - that's crazy.
- All our dreams coming true because we started drinking a shake - now that's crazy.
Five friends, four highs school classmates, three childhood friends (and BMW qualifiers), two couples and one incredible team.
It's all crazy, it's all true and this new crazy life, our Vi-life, is all because of ViSalus.
We truly are living La Vi-Da Loca!
