News: weight-loss: November 2009

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Whoops! Weeks Forty-Five, Forty-Six, and Forty-Seven Results!

My bad! Thank you to Lindsey for reminding me to update.

Wow, time has flown – I went on vacation to Palm Springs last weekend and things were a whirlwind before and a whirlwind after, lol. But I’m back!

Week Forty-Five Results:
Starting stats:
Weight: 247 lbs.
BMI: 36.5

Today’s stats:
Weight: 175 lbs.
BMI: 25.8

Week Forty-Six Results:
Starting stats:
Weight: 247 lbs.
BMI: 36.5

Today’s stats:
Weight: 174 lbs.
BMI: 25.7

Week Forty-Seven Results:
Starting stats:
Weight: 247 lbs.
BMI: 36.5

Today’s stats:
Weight: 175 lbs.
BMI: 25.8

So what’s the story there? Basically, I screwed up on vacation. Big time. I ate whatever I wanted – a whole bunch of it. But, I learned my lesson (a bunch of lessons, actually), and I only gained one pound, for which I’m exceedingly grateful.

Back on this WW wagon with a vengeance!

[Via http://thebroadbroad.wordpress.com]

Oh yeah, Im losing weight.

I hate to say it, but things got a little off track this week. Thanksgiving and Mr. Gaunt’s Birthday involved many big yummy meals. I skipped last weeks weigh in, and then I lost about 2 pounds, but after Thanksgiving I gained it back. Today Im about the same as I was two weeks ago. Im annoyed with myself, my self control, or lack there of. Im annoyed that Im letting the stupid Holidays be what everyone says they are…a time to get fat! Im pissed that I might not make my goal by January 1st. Im being too lazy to work out, too stressed over other shit to put my weight loss first.

Theres nothing I can do about the choices I made this week, but I can tell you that the next 4 weeks will NOT have a negative affect on my weight. Christmas can bite me!

GOALS FOR THIS WEEK:

-Remove all leftovers, desserts and bad carbs from this house.

-Drink water…LOTS of water

-Go to weigh in by Wednesday at the latest (if Im not feeling ok with my weight by monday night)

-Eat more fruit (I hate winter!)

-No eating after 6pm (I go to bed at 9:30)

[Via http://fortheloveofskinny.wordpress.com]

Let us give thanks!

Hello reader, sorry I got wrapped up in school but I hope we are still health conscious. Thanksgiving is here and for most of us it spells excessive eating. There is nothing bad with spending some quality time with loved ones over our favorite foods. The key is portion control. One can eat everything without eating too much. I feel people need to have a good time with family and friends and not make food the center of the gathering. Just in case we did not get it right during thanksgiving I want us to have a plan for subsequent holidays.

Our big holiday plan in no particular order:

Don’t go to holiday dinners starving. Eat before the big feast. A small healthful meal with lots of fiber (oatmeal, whole-grain sandwich, salad with beans) keeps you feeling full until dinner. Help yourself to a veggie-filled salad or raw vegetables, such as carrots and celery, before the main meal.
Establish some ground rules in advance of the meal that allow you to indulge but not pig out — for example, make up your mind to have only a small portion of dessert.
Make time for exercise every day, especially on holidays. Exercise does not have to be hectic but just plan on doing some sort of exercise every day.

Start a new family tradition. Take a bike ride, go for a hike, or play tennis especially on morning of a big holiday.

Don’t eat food just because it is there. Save your calories for the foods you love.

Scan the buffet and carefully choose the foods you love. If they are high in calories like the gravy, just take a smaller portion. Take larger portions of the simply prepared foods such as baked sweet potatoes, steamed vegetables, and skinless white meat of turkey.

After a big dinner, fight the urge to nap the evening away. Moving more than usual with activity such as a game of touch football in the front yard or a marathon of shopping on Black Friday will help compensate for any little indulgences.

Aspire to maintain your weight during the holidays because trying to lose weight might be a tough proposition. Trying to follow a strict diet may lead to you eventually overeat or even bing. Don’t stress out over no net loss — celebrate a lack of gain!

In spite of everything, let us celebrate who we are. According to Cicero, Let us thank God every day when we get up and have something to do that day which must be done whether we like it or not. Being forced to work and forced to do our best will breed in us temperance and self-control, diligence and strength of will, cheerfulness and content, and a hundred virtues which the idle will never know. For all things fair we hear or see, Father in heaven, we thank Thee!

[Via http://fitnessbychi.wordpress.com]

What to eat? What to eat?

It’s the first day of the plan. I’m going to lose belly fat and I’m going to get six-pack abs. I’m not ready yet to start on my abdominals exercises, but to start the day right, I certainly need to start with the six-pack abs diet.

While I certainly need to burn that “stubborn belly fat,” as the commercials remind me, too frequently, I also need to thing about the rest of my body as well. If it’s true that the truck tire hanging around my mid-section is the most difficult to remove, then what works for it should work for the excess weight elsewhere as well.

As I stare into a mirror, I realize that the tractor tire is a bulk of my weight problem. It will take months of strict attention to diet to rid myself of those inches. But at the same time, I want to be building flat abdominals, toned abdominals, lean abdominals. (Yes, I’ll be using positive, reinforcing self talk. Attitude is so much of the battle.)

While just about anything I do to reduce my intake of “bad” foods should be helpful, there are two things to consider: I need a better understanding of what “bad” foods are and aren’t and I need a plan that I will like enough to keep on it for the duration. In other words, “diet” is not just a temporary aberration from my normal course of action, but a complete and permanent lifestyle change. (That change, however, will be in stages as I lose weight and as my life activities are altered, especially as I age.)

Enough about that. What’s for breakfast?

Fortunately, I like oatmeal. Plain, unadulterated oatmeal. Doesn’t need sweetener, milk, raisins, spices or whatnot. Just regular (not quick) oats, a cupful of them, microwaved for about a minute. At some point in the future, as eating at home frees up funds (more about that later), I’ll buy a simple hand-crank unit that will turn fresh oats into flakes. A friend who does that says the taste gets even better.

I’ll follow that up later with an apple, maybe two, this morning as my stomach requests more sustenance, though a cup of solid oatmeal lasts a long time. To drink: water. There’s only whole milk in the fridge and later I’ll write about why that’s not the best choice for weight loss. Hint: It has nothing to do with the milk fat contant. Today I’ll purchase a gallon of skim, which is best for losing belly fat. I like it just fine, but my family doesn’t. So we’ll have a two-milk refrigerator.

Water and tea offer greatest benefits

So today is a water day as far as fluids go. Some of that water will have tea in it; since it’s heading toward winter, it will be hot tea. Lots of advantages to that, as well, with more details to come.

Since it’s a Saturday, I have lots of time for study, so I’ll go to work on what I’m going to be doing as an appropriate exercise to start losing belly fat and developing six-pack abs.

If you want to investigate the same material I’m studying, read The Truth About Abs by Mike Geary.

Click Here!

[Via http://56overweightwanting6packabs.wordpress.com]

Weight Loss and Human Growth Hormone

A Day in the Life of a lady that used the Medifast products and programs to promote rapid weight loss and a healthy lifestyle.

Free Weightloss Weight Loss EBook

List of Literature
100 Days of Weight Loss, Linda Spangle, 2006
Daily Word for Weight Loss, Colleen Zuck, Elaine Meyer, Janie Wright, 2001
Dr. Shapiro’s Picture Perfect Weight Loss Shopper’s Guide, Howard M. Shapiro, 2001

Recommended Links
Aerobic Exercise and Weight Loss
Fatty Weight Loss BlogLoss
Weight Loss Help

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Holiday Weight Loss Is Possible

A healthy weight loss plan for life.

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Finding a Weight Loss Program that Works for You. Finding the Way to a Healthier You. Based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Publications produced by WIN are carefully reviewed by both NIDDK scientists and outer surface experts. WIN encourages users of this brochure to duplicate and distribute as many copies as desired. CACFP plays a vital role in improving the quality of day care for children and elderly adults by making care more affordable for many low-income families. That the field of adult nurture and literacy will have the best available tools and training to help adult learners build a better future.

Recommended Links
Aerobic Exercise and Weight Loss
Fatty Weight Loss BlogLoss
Weight Loss Help

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[Via http://hippocantus.wordpress.com]

Hoodia For Weight Loss

A person’s reasons for choosing breast augmentation surgery differ from another. Some people simply want to increase the bust size and others seek to reverse the toll that weight loss, pregnancy and nursing have taken.

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Other therapies are weight loss, occupational therapy, immunoadsorption therapy, and taking sides tools to improve hard drills. Regular exercise is significant for maintaining joint mobility and making the joint muscles stronger. Popular in Germany and Eastern Europe, can induce beneficial long-term effects for rheumatoid arthritis. The resulting effectiveness of treating RA with acupuncture is inconclusive, and more rigorous research seems to be warranted according to one study. Some people have mild short-term symptoms, but in most the disease is liberal for life. Poor prognostic factors include over-eager synovitis, positive serum RF findings, positive serum anti-CCP autoantibodies, carriership of HLA-DR4 Shared Epitope alleles, poor functional status, elevated acute phase response, and increased clinical severity. Estimates of the life-shortening effect of RA vary; most sources cite a lifespan slackening of 5 to 10 years.

Prior printed Publication
100 Days of Weight Loss, Linda Spangle, 2006
Daily Word for Weight Loss, Colleen Zuck, Elaine Meyer, Janie Wright, 2001
Dr. Shapiro’s Picture Perfect Weight Loss Shopper’s Guide, Howard M. Shapiro, 2001

Suggested Links
Aerobic Exercise and Weight Loss
Fatty Weight Loss BlogLoss
Weight Loss Help

Tags: weight loss weight los rheumatoid arthritis occupational therapy

[Via http://runningjack.wordpress.com]

Make the Best Weight Loss Decisions

When it comes to making decisions, especially in losing weight, the more options one has, the more difficult it is to make a choice. To begin with, no program should put your health in risk. The main problem that people face is to overcome the entice of starting off on a crash diet or starvation. What a crash diet does is to deprive your body of essential nutrition, leaving you skinny. When you are skinny and malnourished you become vulnerable to diseases. This is not a good strategy to lose weight.

When it comes to exercises, you have to make sure that you are doing the right thing. First, you need to check your body’s suitability to your doctor for a certain fitness exercise. This is important! If you want to lose weight though exercises after a long spell without doing any exercises. The diet that you prefer for losing weight will be determined partly by the demands of the program and your individual preferences. Your individual preferences only come in if the program specifications offer you many choices to refer to.More..

Weight Loss Gold Coast

[Via http://weightandfatloss.wordpress.com]

Let the Games Begin

I’m in Tuscaloosa getting ready to get my eat on. No Weight Watchers tomorrow. I lost six pounds this week. I’ll do my best to not gain it all back in one day. On Friday I’m heading to Mobile to hang out with one of my best friends. Be back in the Ham on Sunday. More posting planned for next week. I might even start exercising. I watched the Biggest Loser: Where are they now episode. That was pretty inspiring stuff. I also watched Roger Shultz attempt to snap a football into a big fake Jay Leno mouth as part of The Biggest Loser talent show on Leno….that was not so inspiring*.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

* The football snapping was not so inspiring, he is still looking good.

[Via http://southernfriedfatty.wordpress.com]

Nearing the 170s

Today I weighed in at 181.5 lbs, which means I’m down another 1.5 lbs from last week! And, as Babbalou pointed out in a comment on my last post, I’m very close to leaving the 180s for good. Do you think it’s possible for me to lose 2 lbs over the week of Thanksgiving? It would be fantastic to weigh in below 180 next Tuesday morning, but I guess we’ll just see what my body is up for this week. This gives me yet another reason not to backslide after Thanksgiving.

Yesterday I did two workouts (bicycle and elliptical), and today holds more of the same. It was a little windy on the bike this morning, but I made it to work just fine. Doubling up on these workouts has been empowering: I feel like I’ll go into the holiday weekend extra strong and feeling fit. And feelings of fitness often beget more fitness!

I joined a challenge on SparkPeople yesterday, and apparently one of the things that counts in this particular challenge is strength-training minutes. Do you know how many minutes I currently strength train per week? Zero. Uh oh . . . I’d better formulate a plan pretty quickly!

How’s everyone doing this week? I really enjoyed hearing your Thanksgiving plans—are you ready to put them into effect?

[Via http://tinyglow.com]

The ABCs of Weight Loss

A very significant mode of acquiring weight loss is by undertaking a proper exercising regimen and aerobics have proved to be extremely beneficial in these cases.

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This curbs excess caloric consumption in the patient treated with acupuncture and is a great help in the patients weight loss program. Enhances Fertility TCM practitioner will carefully determine the state of the imbalances and prescribe an individualized program of herbs, acupuncture and diet to help humans create the correct environment for fertility and pregnancy. How To Heal the Life Quickly What maximum people do not realize is that emotions are real things. Acupuncture is one of the most widely recognized and successful methods of alternative treatment in the world. Its effectiveness in treating a wide variety of disorders has been clinically proven by many distinguished researchers. Grateful that the ailments have been alleviated without any side effects, have graciously written testimonials found throughout the website. The study investigates the efficacy of acupuncture for childhood asthma. Researchers try 17 children between the ages of 6 and 12 in a randomized, placebo-controlled. About half of the patients received laser acupuncture that simulates real acupuncture and the rest received the control, that was simply a red hurricane lantern emitted from a pen.

Bibliography
100 Days of Weight Loss, Linda Spangle, 2006
Daily Word for Weight Loss, Colleen Zuck, Elaine Meyer, Janie Wright, 2001
Dr. Shapiro’s Picture Perfect Weight Loss Shopper’s Guide, Howard M. Shapiro, 2001

Related external Links
Aerobic Exercise and Weight Loss
Fatty Weight Loss BlogLoss
Weight Loss Help

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Weight loss spa

Achieving weight loss is not that easy. It needs a good strategy, planning and motivation to lose weight. Some of the weight loss tips, that can be followed at ease, are listed here to stay healthy as well as to stay fit with a perfect body figure.

Free Weightloss Weight Loss EBook

Suggested Links
Aerobic Exercise and Weight Loss
Fatty Weight Loss BlogLoss
Weight Loss Help

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[Via http://runningjack.wordpress.com]

For the love of Cheese...Soy Cheese of course

Oh I do love cheese, I was an addict, and I have promised you a review on soy cheeses for such a long time I thought it was about time I delivered!

I have never been a fan of those fake “american” style cheeses that come in bottles or cans, unfortunately I have found that soy cheese tastes very similar to that. It is difficult to find a fab soy cheese on the market.

One that I did find however was not so bad, still a little bottled-up feeling but I generally would only recommend you buy it to make cheese on toast, it’s absolutely not recommended for use in anything else.

Tofutti

Tofutti is fab for exactly that, cheese on toast. Cures a craving, is a great hangover cure (yes, i’m still working on that cutting the alcohol out bit of my life. Moving on..) and all in all doesn’t taste one bit like tofu.

It probably would taste awesome on pizza too but I havent gotten around to trying that one yet. This particular Tofutti comes already sliced (giving it that completely processed cheese feeling i’ve always hated but I am growing to accept). I highly advise against eating this uncooked.

The Verdict: definately will purchase it again, but there are pleanty more soy cheeses on my list to try out, such as Simply Better Foods: SoyCheese with Garden Herbs.

I understand however that this is not completely vegan as it has casein in it. I’m still on the lookout, choices are limited on this end of the world – but I will definately keep you posted with my discoveries!

[Via http://areyoutheresoy.wordpress.com]

at peace

as i sat on my bed this afternoon, having eaten last I don’t know how long before, i realized something my stomach wasn’t in knots, my mind wasn’t occupied on what i’d eaten last or what i would eat in the future, i wasn’t hungry, i didn’t feel that full bloated feeling. for that moment there in front of my computer, i just ‘was’.

my body was at peace.

right now, i feel that way too. dinner has passed a few hours ago, although it hardly seems that long ago, i just ate one slice of spice bun and i just feel at peace. my body isn’t fighting me anymore, it’s not restless anymore. i am SO glad i pressed through that rough patch to get to this point of peace.

worth it.

21st November, 2009
Breakfast
1 hamburger roll 3
1 egg 2

Snack
2 slices spice bun 6

Lunch
1/2 cup ‘cook up’ rice 3
1 cinnamon bun 3

Snack

Dinner
1 jamaican chicken patty 6

Snack
1 slice spice bun   3
Remaining Points   5
Total   26

[Via http://lilylosinit.wordpress.com]

Healthy Weight Loss

A healthy weight loss plan can include nutritional supplements to make it easier to meet the weight loss goals. We three of the top selling weight loss supplements on the market today.

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Health care professionals generally agree that people that have a BMI of 30 or greater can improve the health through weight loss. It is especially true for people with a BMI of 40 or greater, that are considered extremely obese. A weight loss of 5 to 10 percent of the initial body weight can do much to improve health by lowering blood pressure and other risk factors for obesity-related diseases. The method of treatment depends on the level of obesity, and readiness to lose weight. Weight dominate is a life-long effort, and having realistic expectations about weight loss is an central consideration. Individuals that were previously considered overweight and obese individuals are encouraged to capture 60 to 90 minutes of exercise a day to sustain weight loss.

Recommended Links
Aerobic Exercise and Weight Loss
Fatty Weight Loss BlogLoss
Weight Loss Help

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[Via http://hippocantus.wordpress.com]

Makin' it Public! 178.5 Pounds!

This is me right after I got married.

Summer ‘09

I have decided to do something rather unlike me. I have complained a lot on my blog about stress, missing my husband, etc. I have also complained to myself how I am not getting enough sleep, eating right, or losing weight. Most military wives want to look phenomenal when their husbands get home, either for R&R or permanently. That was, and is my goal. I started off great but I let stress take over my life and I lost balance between work and me. So, here is what I am going to do. I am going to post my weight loss on my blog until I get to my goal weight of 145 pounds. Currently, I am at 178.5 pounds.

A LITTLE HISTORY

I used to weigh over 250 pounds so the weight above doesn’t seem so bad. I also used to weigh 150 pounds (after I lost my first 100 pounds). I was at my happiest, healthiest, and most confident. I want that back so bad! I have until March when Joey gets back for his R&R. That means I need to lose 33.5 pounds in 4 months. Wow! Putting that in writing seems extremely daunting with the holidays coming up and all, but I started my original journey, several years ago, around Halloween! I made it through the holidays that time and even managed to lose weight.

So keep an eye on my blog and check out my progress. I think pictures are in order, too, so I am attaching the most current one I have since I don’t really like taking them. I could use encouragement and would love to hear your stories of weight loss as well.

I will be updating each Saturday after I weigh in. I will also discuss if my eating/working out/sleeping habits have had any effect on my progress.

SEE YA NEXT WEEK!

[Via http://victoriawiseman.wordpress.com]

I sweat, a lot.

My name is Laura. This is my first blog ever. Perhaps no one will read it since there’s not much reason to at this point. I’m writing out of sheer desperation and as a commitment. This blog is going to be a promise…no, scratch that. I break promises, especially the ones I make to myself. This blog is going to help keep my ass in check. I figure if I publish it, for the world’s eyes to see then I can’t fail. Well, I could fail but this is way more effort than I’ve ever put forth before.

What’s the goal?

The goal is to be healthy. I am 28 years-old and I weigh 281.6 lbs as of 5 minutes ago. Boy, that’s painful to say. I’ve always been a big girl but I’ve used it as my protection. No one can get too close. While that may seem like a bit much of an introduction, it’s needed. I’m not here to mince words or hold anything back. This is going to be my weight-loss story.

How do I reach the goal?

I just got back from a 30 minute workout at the nearest gym. I plan on going somewhere between 5-6 times a week, depending on my work schedule. As for now, that’s it. I plan on revamping my diet soon but too much, too soon will throw me out of whack completely and you may never hear from me again. I’m pleased I even took the time to get a good pair of athletic shoes because it’s always a good excuse when you have bad feet. In fact, everything can seem like a good excuse. Not this time. I’ll be huff’n and puff’n for the world to see.

I guess that’s it for now. Please take heed, my writing skills could be better and I recognize that.

Milk and Weight Loss

4 weight loss tips people should follow, on top of the weight loss program, so as to make sure that the weight loss program You havechosen will work flawlessly for you.

Free Weightloss Weight Loss EBook

Individuals that were previously considered overweight and obese individuals are encouraged to capture 60 to 90 minutes of exercise a day to sustain weight loss. Choosing a secure and Successful Weight-loss Program. Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Across the Lifespan. Better Health and You. Clinical Guidelines on the Identification, and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in Adults. National Task compel on Prevention and Treatment of Obesity.

Related external Links
Aerobic Exercise and Weight Loss
Fatty Weight Loss BlogLoss
Weight Loss Help

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What Deposits Are You Making Into Your Fitness Account

Anyone who has ever tried to start on a weight loss initiative knows how much inertia is involved in getting started. This is even more so if someone wants to start on an exercise program. A lot of this inertia has got to do with the balance in one’s fitness account. The inertia could be caused by an overdrawn fitness account. Or someone could also have so much of “fitness debt” that he or she is “fitness bankrupt”.

Your Fitness Account

Everyone has a mental fitness account. Imagine this to be an imaginary check and balance of your fitness initiatives. You make deposits into this account by exercising, eating healthy and practicing habits that you know will affect your weight loss and fitness goals. You make withdrawals every time you don’t exercise or eat food that cause you to gain weight or loose fitness. Everything that you do either adds to this account or subtracts from it. The balance in this account affects you mentally and physically.

The Physical Effect of a Positive Account Balance on the Body

The higher the balance in your fitness account, the more abuse your body could take. If you have a high account balance, you could probably go on a holiday and do nothing but consume alcohol and eat pizza and yet return home with negligible weight gain. You have built enough buffer into your body to take that abuse.

The Mental Effect of a Positive Account Balance on the Body

A positive balance also means that you could go on a holiday like the one mentioned above, and yet be able to come back to your healthy lifestyle without much effort. The positive account balance ensures this. Having a positive balance keeps you exercising and being vigilant and mindful of what you eat.

A Negative Balance in the Fitness Account

The same applies on the other end of the spectrum. Some people have made so many withdrawals that their account is overdrawn. Some even have a bankrupt fitness account. These people could never imagine themselves exercising. They have no control over the food that they eat. Any initiative that they take to regain control does not bear fruit they are just in too much fitness debt.

These people get easily swayed by distractions. The first challenge that comes along will throw them off-track. They do not have enough account balance to mentally and physically deal with a challenge.

Can Someone Become “Fitness Wealthy”

Just as a bankrupt can become a millionaire, so too can a “fitness bankrupt” become a “fitness millionaire”. Like a financial bankrupt, it just going to take a lot of hard work. Its going to take a lot of patience by continuously exercising and eating healthily to make the continuous deposits. These deposits must be made continuously to benefit from the upward momentum of effort. Eventually all the fitness debt will be paid off and one can start reaping the rewards of one’s hard work. This could be achieving your weight loss goal or living a life inclined towards health and fitness.

All images are courtesy of Andy Newson / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Tags: fitness, fitness account, fitness bankrupt, fitness debt, fitness millionaire, weight loss

Exercise and Deep Belly Fat

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Visceral fat is deep fat – inside your belly, where it grows around your vital organs. The more you have, the greater your chance of diabetes and heart disease.

But researchers say that people who lost weight and exercised to keep the weight off for a year kept the insides of their bellies skinny.

At the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Gary Hunter had some people train aerobically, and others do resistance with weights.

For full article, please click Exercise and Deep Belly Fat.

A letter to me.

Dear now me,

I know you are scared. I know you are afraid. Change is scary. But think of the possibilities. Think of why you need to change. Be the women you want to be. Be the women you can be proud of.

Nothing in life worth having is easy or free. Good things have a price but I know you are worth it. I know you have value, even if you don’t always see it that way.

Stop trying to be everything to everyone all the time and focus on yourself. I know at times this feels like the craziest, scariest thing you have ever done and maybe it is but it will be worth it. IT WILL BE WORTH IT. I have faith in you. I am writing my story now. I am going to be one of those people who stands up and says I did it and so can you. It all starts here. It starts now. Have a little faith in yourself because you are stronger then you realize.

Months from now you will look back at tomorrow and realize you are a fighter and you are winning this battle. You can do, just don’t quit on me now.

Love, Future me

No Weigh, Jose

HEY! I wrote a review of the film (Untitled) over at my school newspaper. You should go read it, even though you will probably never see this film.

Click heeeeeeeeeeeeere.

Anyway, I was very tempted to weigh myself this morning. I was getting changed into my Yoga clothes and thought, “Well, I’m already almost naked, I may as well step on the scale,” (because this is how my mind works) but decided against it. I’ve been on plan and, thus, really doing the best I can, so why weigh myself right now? If I were out of control, I’d think it necessary to weigh in-in order to shock myself back into a state of behaving well. But, I’m not eating poorly (at the moment, at least), so why stress myself out with a number when I have so many other lovely things to stress about right now?

Liiiiiike …

1) My video project due Dec. 1!

2) My final paper on women in Greece and Rome that is also due Dec. 1!

3) My 15 – 20 page paper on my summer internship due Dec. 7!

4) My final article for my Journalism class that is due Dec. 7!

5) My paper on Journalistic ethics that is due Dec. 7!

6) My Political final on Dec. 8!

AWESOME! Also, you may be saying, “Girl, all those things are mad far away! Why be you worried?” Well, next week is Thanksgiving, and while I can work while I’m home, I won’t really have the time or the resources to. So, that’s four/five days out of my schedule. Also, I have to read entire books to get some of these papers done. Oh, and I am reliant on other people for some papers: To write my final article, I can’t start until I’ve interviewed members of the Brandeis religious community, and who knows who long it’ll take for them to get back to my requests.

/dies on inside

I will be so glad when this semester is done, though I’m not sure if I’m more excited about having time off from schoolwork or access to a kitchen for a six weeks.

Anyway, I’m enjoying not weighing myself (kind of—one part would just like to know the number so I stop analyzing how doughy I look), and I’m thinking of establishing a “get out of weigh-in” system; that is, if I stay on plan (or don’t binge, at least), I don’t have to weigh myself again until I start my “post-holiday diet” after Christmas.

How are you handling weigh-ins this holiday season? Do you find you’re more likely to stay on track if the number on the scale is front and center?

Weight Loss Wars meet Star Wars in earth orbit

BURBANK and KENNEDY SPACE CENTER — In simultaneous press conferences today on both coasts, NASA, fourth-place NBC and legendary TV talker-comic Jay Leno scored a marketing and branding coupe. The trio announced that a new Greenbox Brocco-Flower broccoli and cauliflower vending machine had been sent aloft to the International Space Station today aboard the shuttle Atlantis.

From the deal, NBC gets to promote Leno’s new 10 p.m. show and the all-important lead-in for its affiliates’ 11 o’clock news. At the same time, NASA receives a boat-load, or shuttle-load in this case, of much needed cash while addressing its seldom-mentioned concerns that some astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the ISS are hitting the junk food a little hard. Onboard obesity has reportedly caused a few Ph.D.s and other crackerjack crackpots to theorize that the ISS could slip into a lower orbit as its portly space travelers continue accumulating the pounds and popping the zippers on their $32 million spacesuits. By sending the Greenbox veggie vending machine to the ISS, NASA cashes in on a marketing bonanza while the orbit jockeys lose some weight. Since Leno, a previously avowed veggie hater who’s attempting to turn over a new leaf and go green by endorsing the innovative vending machines, is the primary investor in Greenbox, the original idea was to send him to the ISS to broadcast his show live back down to several dozen viewers in 11 Midwestern states and two elderly nuns residing in the Canadian Maritimes.

But Leno balked at the last minute and said he needed to stay home, do his hair and feed his beloved cat, “Slim Jim.”

“Wait, send John Melendez instead,” Leno reportedly suggested to his bosses at NBC. “He needs the gig and if he’s willing for us to shave his head on national television, then he’ll go into space too.”

But when contacted to see if he was willing to blast off into space, Melendez was reportedly quoted as saying, “No, no, no, no, no, no, w-a-a-a-a-a-y-y-y-y.

“It’s still the mi-mi-mi-mi-middle of the fo-fo-fo-fo-football season and I can’t st-st-st-stand to leave my New York Gi-Gi-Gi-Giants.”

With Leno and Melendez both refusing to hitch a ride aboard Atlantis to the ISS, Greenbox marketing officials were able to convince NASA to instead send the prototype Greenbox vending machine to the space station aboard today’s shuttle launch.

But at the last minute, it was discovered that the broccoli and cauliflower vending machine weighed more than 400 pounds. NASA only allotted 300 pounds when it put the last vending machine aboard ISS — a chocolate and vanilla soft serve machine. Because of the excess cargo weight, the space agecy was ready to assess a $150,000 overweight fee.

The fee was on the verge of scuttling the whole project/marketing campaign when Leno stepped forward and said he was willing to sell his prized pink 1957 Ford Edsel and his rare gold-embossed 1959 Studebaker Lark from his private collection. Together, the cars were expected bring an estimated $35 million — enough to pay the overweight cargo fee and fund more than 40 percent of NASA’s budget for the entire 2010 fiscal year.

“It’s a win-win all around,” an NBC spokesman said. “Everybody gets to go green.

“The astroanuts and cosmonauts get to eat more green. Jay’s willing to pay more green to go green and CBS, ABC, Fox, the CW and two low-powered UHF TV stations in Arkansas and Indiana will be green with envy because of all the great marketing opportunities they’re missing.”

2 Great NYTimes.com Articles to Share

Friends have shared these two articles with me recently that I wanted to pass along. Since I still have zero energy and my brain cells seem to be dying by the day here as I sit here and try to get better … I’m not going to analyze them but rather just share them, verbatim. I’d love to know what you think, though!!

The first, courtesy of Allison, is “Training the Mind to Run Right Through Winter.”
-The premise here is that while some people stop their exercise routines in cold weather, there are also people who continue to push through. I know I tend to prefer indoor workouts when it’s really cold out, but then when it’s a nice-ish winter day, I love to squeeze in a bike ride, run or walk–it can feel invigorating. I don’t mind the cold, so much as snow/ice. How about you? Do you run or exercise outdoors regardless of the weather?

The second, courtesy of Yasmin, is “Why Exercise Doesn’t Lead to Weight Loss.”
-The premise here is that exercising can help with maintenance but doesn’t necessarily boost weight loss. I agree with that assessment; I know eating less is really what helped me lose weight and that if I didn’t work out the way I do (when healthy and not with H1N1, that is) I’d probably have gained it ALL back vs. just some of it. How about you? Do you think exercise helped you lose or maintain better?

Thanks, girls, for your contributions. How did you know these would come in handy?

goal for july...

we skipped church this morning and are re-cooping from our orlando wedding yesterday. my legs are sore. after shooting 3 weddings in 8 days, we needed a little rest… however, we have a jam-packed week coming up, so today is cleaning day. boo. oh, and then we have an engagement shoot at 3! talk about craziness!

i’m on the weight loss train (yes, again). i swear… one of these times, the motivation is going to stick and my perseverance will keep me going! i’m crossing my fingers that this is the time! after meeting with a friend-of-a-friend who is a nutritionist, i feel so much more informed. i had no idea how to read a food label or how many calories i should technically be eating per day. knowing that information is key to losing weight. so… i calculated how much weight i want to lose and how quickly i’d like to lose it (2lbs/week is average) and if all goes as planned, i will be down to my goal weight by july. yes, july. it’s a little daunting, but with my thyroid issues, my mom has explained that i will probably never be able to eat whatever i want and still be a size 2. sad day oh well… such is life. you gotta take the hand you’re dealt. i’ll keep you updated… eeeek.

ok, well, enough rambling… i guess i should start tackling my nasty kitchen and reunite with my dyson before the day gets away from me!

Starting the HcG diet

Well, I joined the gym, have been attending training sessions with my trainer now for six weeks. I sweat, hurt, cringe and am now starting to realize higher energy levels. I think mainly because I look at the candy bar and think, “You are going to cost me an hour on the treadmill” and promptly ignore it. Everything that goes on my plate or in my hands I now remember not so foundly the pain my trainer put me through and decide if it is worth the workout or not. Amazingly, this simple little process has helped me eat better. But, I have not lost any weight. In fact, I have gained 15 pounds. So now I don’t have 45 pounds to loose, I have 60 pounds to loose.

After speaking with my personal trainer I asked what else I could do. He had me write down everything I ate for a week. Well today I took him my “food journal”, he examined it and was surprised. So yet again he took all my body measurements and weight and was shocked. He didn’t understand why I was not loosing any weight.

Prior to starting my work out with him, he had me get a physical with my doctor. The doctor drew blood and performed all sorts of tests, I am healthy with no problems (other then my cholesterol is a bit high). So my trainer knew there was nothing wrong with my body, it just doesn’t want to loose weight. He suggested I go on the HcG diet. I don’t know if it is going to work or not, but it is supposed to arrive in the mail on wednesday.

I will keep you posted as to how that goes. Also today my trainer switched my workout plan to yoga, pilates and Tai Chi, he said that I would do better with these types of workouts while on the HcG diet.

Here is hoping for a better, healthier, skinnier me.

Remember, I have 60 pounds to loose now as I am supposed to weight between 104-107 pounds.

Fake Lida Weight Loss Products

A lot of weight loss supplements are available in the market but most of them prove to be ineffective.

Free Weightloss Weight Loss EBook

In Reference to
100 Days of Weight Loss, Linda Spangle, 2006
Daily Word for Weight Loss, Colleen Zuck, Elaine Meyer, Janie Wright, 2001
Dr. Shapiro’s Picture Perfect Weight Loss Shopper’s Guide, Howard M. Shapiro, 2001

Suggested Links
Aerobic Exercise and Weight Loss
Fatty Weight Loss BlogLoss
Weight Loss Help

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Upping Weight, Can't Knock Out the Reps

From EverydayHealth.com:

Q: According to my workout program, next week I should be ready to increase the weight of my dumbbells and reduce the number of reps for each exercise. The problem is, the next heaviest set of dumbbells at my gym is too heavy for me to complete the entire set of reps. What should I do?

A: A good gym should have dumbbells that increase in weight by 2.5-pound increments up to 25-pound weights. If you are reducing the number of reps by 5, which is what I recommend, and increasing the weight by only 2.5 to 5 pounds, you should be able to get through all of the reps for the exercises. If you start to feel that you can’t do the last few reps, you can go back to the lower weight you were using over the previous couple of weeks.In general, you should pick a weight that’s heavy enough that you can just barely complete the prescribed repetitions with perfect form….for the rest of the answer click here!

Prenatal Diet Sets Food Preferences

If the smell of beets makes you gag but you simply can’t get enough sour crème and chive potato chips, your Mom may be to blame — and not because of what she fed you growing up. Several studies show that food preferences may be set even before you’re born, as early as 13 weeks after gestation. And those preferences derive from what your Mom ate while you were in the womb.

Read more at Jon Barron’s Natural Health Blog

Week Four

This week I have hit my first set back. I have unfortunately gained 4lbs.

Moving my weight back up to 18st 5lbs (257lbs).

I’d love to say, that the extra weight gain was due to the natural build up of muscle from training and I have actually lost a few inches, but it isn’t due to these factors. Over the last couple of weeks I have been out a few times, had quite a bit of alcohol and eaten out on a few occasions. It is inevitable when you act this way that weight gain will soon follow, and I have paid the price for not being sensible. That said, I feel that even though reaching my final target is what I desire most, trying to maintain a balance between dieting and having an unrestricted social life is also very important.

I believe as I continue my journey I will find the key to this and hope to pass it on through my ramblings.

4 Opportunities to experience The 24 DAY CHALLENGE

The 24 Day Challenge changed everything for me; my health, outlook on life, confidence, knowledge about nutrition and more. The energy, happiness, and health that I feel is almost too much to describe in words. My hope is that everyone could experience this just once and I don’t think many would go back to old ways or habits.

I found the 24 Day Challenge easy to follow and it fit perfectly in my busy schedule. I noticed things changing on Day 2. Those results continued throughout the 24 days and even after. On May, 25, 2009 I weighed 200lbs. After exactly 1 month I had lost 22 lbs. I went on to lose additional fat by continuing some maintainance products. I have now lost a total of 29 lbs (fat) and weigh in at 171. I’d encourage you to check out one of the events listed below. We have four opportunities over the next 20 days!

TONIGHT 12th @ 7:30pm
Mon, NOV. 16th 7:30pm
Sat. NOV. 28th 10am
Mon. NOV. 30th 7:30pm

thechampionslockerroom.com – stories

thechampionsstore.com – product store

Time to Make Diet a Part of My Training.

This past Saturday was my first day exercising in years so my training this week is light: walking or a slow pace on the stationary bike for about 30 minutes. It is all I can do now. But each week I expect to be able to do more.

Getting all the items I need for training has been more problematic. I mentioned in the previous post about the bike I planned on using being broken. I’ve also haven’t been able to find a swim suit that fits: I’m both fat and tall. The few suits I’ve found large enough to cover my but are not long enough to reach my chest. I didn’t realize getting “supplies” would be my biggest trouble this week: I thought it would be my sore muscles.

I bought a diet book , Susan Powter’s “The Politics of Stupid” that I’m going to read as soon as I’m done writing this blog. I need to loose weight but I’m increasing my exercise so I don’t want to cut too many calories. Skimming the book at the bookstore, it appeared to be what I needed : something about cutting excess, not needed, calories and exercising . If it looks helpful I intend to add this diet aspect to my training starting this weekend.

I also bought “WordPress for Dummies” so hopefully my blog will be a little more attractive soon (how to up load pictures and change your theme etc) .

Help raise funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society by
donating or joining TeamInTraining yourself .

Why diets just never work.

Many people ask. Why diet? Diets don’t work. Yes they don’t a diet is a temporary change in the way we eat. Not only that we have to make a big tado about the sacrifices we are making for our diet. The key flaw with diets is that the are a temporary fix to a life long problem. If I’m in Portland Oregon (Over weight and unhealthy) and my goal is to go to Key West Florida (Optimal Health). I can not drive from Portland to Seattle and back and expect to be in Key West.

But am I really in Portland? I may be in LA. To know how to get to were you are going you need to know were you are at.

Little Black Dress

I have this amazingly hot little black dress. I had bought it at the beginning of the year with plans to go to Vegas with In-Laws and Husband for our 21st birthdays.

I went to BeBe and tried on several mostly to the approval of my Ex-Husband. A sales woman came back and told me I was trying dresses on that were too big. So she brings me a simple strapless black dress, size XS.

I squeeze into it, with the help of my Ex and the Sales woman.Love it. Buy it for $200. Mistake.

Fast forward 9 months and 10 pounds later and my fat ass doesn’t fit as nicely in that dress.

Saturday my Mom and I had our first ballet of the season- I wanted to wear that dress.

So I put it on backwards, zipp it up and twist and twist, skootching…wiggling, I finally get it where the dress is facing the right way. I then have to wiggle it up my body and very slowly tuck one breast at a time into the dress…the process takes an entire 5 minutes and by the time I was done, I was exhausted and needed to sit down for a minute to catch what breath I could muster up in my lungs and my Mom was on the floor unable to breath from laughing so hard…and I couldn’t breath the rest of the night…though from nothing funny.

All that hard work paid off- I looked amazing; so did my Mom, she is HOT for almost 50.

We had a good night. We went to one of our favorite restaurants, Red Rock Brewery wherein I tried bread pudding for the first time…OH.MY.GOD…If I could just eat one thing for the rest of my life…that would be it (re: my fat ass).

The ballet was 3 small shows, Songs of the Valley (probably one of my all time favorite ballets I ever seen), Three Preludes (so NOT my favorite), and The Dream (which was a 1 act version of Shakespeare’s a Mid Summers Night Dream, and it was SO awesome).

I looked amazing, had a great night and am sad I have to wait till February to go again (though hopefully more weight will have come off so that dress fits just slightly nicer).

MIA

I must sincerely apologise for being MIA for the last week or so, there most definately is good reason for this, and in the few sentences / paragraphs to follow, I will explain why, and hopefully you will find it in your heart to forgive me. I want to thank you for your continued support, for coming to check back during the week to see if I have posted, undoubtably leaving dissapointed to find out I haven’t.

I haven’t posted quite simply because I was a little ashamed to. I mentioned to you before, that a lot of my work revolved around events, and food, and as a result, the moment I feared most came upon me, I had to go to a tasting dinner, and I couldn’t be picky about what I ate. At these things, the menu is set for you, and you simply eat what comes to you. And so we began, with an amuse buche of Abalone and Tomato Salsa, followed by an appetiser of Lobster served with Cauliflower Cream, introducing scrambled quail eggs with quail breast and shaved white truffles followed by hand crafted angel hair pasta with red prawns. Main course was pan seared foie gras with duck breast, followed by dessert of chestnut cake served with white truffle ice cream, with shaved white truffle on top. Talk about rich and intense.

Needless to say I spent the night and the following few days feeling rather sick and very much like I had a hangover except in my tummy. Worse than eating too many chillies I tell you.

There is no doubt in my mind now, that vegan seems to be the way to go, granted I may have the odd banoffee pie, but you can be sure I will do my best to avoid as many tasting dinners as possible.

Rest assured. I am back!

Paying for the weekend

Oh my goodness. I was bad this weekend.

I drank beer, ate REAL Doritos, made and ate authentic queso dip and even ate a dessert that wasn’t low fat (Abby made it! And it was totally worth it!).

Basically, I fully expect to have gained a lot of weight this weekend.

It would have been worth it had KU beat K State. As it was, I just drowned my sorrows in bad food choices. Sigh.

At least the Cowboys won!!!

Nerdy Weight Loss

So how does a nerd lose weight? They buy a gadget of course. Being overweight and a bride to be…I decided to try something, anything, to improve my weight loss efforts. So far, it’s been rough…I’ve spent the better part of 4 years going up and down and up and up and down and up the scale. It’s just been rough…and I’ve been really lost. I think that is hard…it’s depressing (and I’m not using that word lightly) to fail at something you’ve worked at for years. And I’ve gotten to the point where all I know…is that I’ve tried the same thing for a while and it’s not working. Time to try something new. So my something new, is the BodyBugg.

If you don’t know what crazy gadget I’m talking about, you clearly haven’t watched the Biggest Loser lately. The BodyBugg is a little device worn on an armband that tracks the calories you burn throughout the day. Along with the Bugg, there is an online interface where you input your food intake and upload the data from the Bugg.

Initial setup of the device includes inputting your weight and other body information. Afterwards, you select your personal goals by adjusting how much weight you want to lose by a certain date or how fast you want to lose weight and it will set a date for you. I went with the option of how fast to lose weight by setting it at 2lbs a week.

Once it’s set up, it’s time to get going and put on your bodybugg!

I’ve been BodyBugged!

You wear that bad boy everyday and it tracks your movement and calorie burn all day. The slim black design is awesome. I haven’t had anyone notice it at all. It only shows under a fitted shirt, but since it’s behind your arm, it’s not so visible. I haven’t worn it with a sleeveless or really short sleeved shirt except for at the gym, since it’s getting colder, so it’s not a big deal.

Anyway, back on the computer, you are greeted with a welcome screen that shows your current status for the day every time you log in.

The home screen is my fav part of the website. This screen shows me every day exactly what I need to do to meet my calorie balance of 1000 a day to meet my 2lb/week goal. I like knowing exactly where I stand, it’s really changed my attitude about my weight loss journey. It makes me feel like I have more control over my destiny. The screenshot above is the daily view, but you can see this data for other stretches of time. The calories burned comes from your sync of the BB and the light blue area is your estimated cal burn if you are sedentary for the rest of the day. Basically – it tells you how much moving you have to do to meet your calorie requirements for the day, which is really helpful.

Out of everything I LOVE about the bodybugg, the one thing I hate is the food logging on the website. It’s quite possibly the least robust one I’ve ever used, and what makes it annoying is that this is a paid site. I couldn’t even find egg whites on the food list. You can build custom foods, but it’s surprising that I have to create custom foods for some of the “typical” healthy foods. They also don’t have an application for smartphones yet and with the way the website functions, you can’t access it on a mobile browser. Some ppl mentioned on the message boards that they logged elsewhere and just copied the nutritionals at the end of the day, but I don’t like that idea. The benefit for me is seeing exactly where I stand when I log in..which helps me decide if I should splurge or not at dinner or to motivate me to actually go to the gym when I feel like being lazy. Anywhoo, here is a peek at the food logging page:

So far, after a few days of BB usage, I really love it. I don’t have the digital display, and sometimes I wish I had sprung for it when I made the initial purchase. I really don’t need it during the week anymore, it’s pretty easy to know how my calorie burn will be at work after a few days. But it still would be nice to know what is going on, especially during the weekend, when I’m really all over the place. I think that I will get one in a few months, maybe around Christmas if there is a good sale or something. It’s not mandatory if you are going to be able to sync the BB at least once during the day. But if you are only syncing at night or first thing in the morning, it would be something I would recommend.

So far, I really love this thing and am really glad I bought it. It’s a hefty investment – $250-189 depending on where you buy it and what kind of sale they are having. They also have a lot of them on ebay, but I found the prices were comparable if not higher than a new one. That includes 6 months of the website, afterwhich you have to pay for a continued subscription. And you have to have the subscription – this thing is worthless if you can’t sync and see the outputs. So…it’s not a cheap toy…which is a huge downfall for a lot of people. It’s one reason I waited a long time to buy one – I had to really figure out if I could justify the cost for something like this. In my head – I decided it was worth it, but that’s a really personal decision. If I lose all the weight I want from this thing, then it’s worth it. I don’t think I’d buy this for just maintenance or if I only had a few lbs to lose.

So this is my #1 essential for weight loss right now. It’s my rock that I look to to make decisions on food and exercise and it’s really helping me. I’m a geek…so seeing the numbers makes this whole journey make sense to me. I know ppl say cal in/cal out is the key to weight loss – but now I can actually see what that really means. I have my coaching session next week and I can’t wait to talk to them and learn more about how to maximize the usage of the website and of the bodybugg.

Anyone else a bodybugg user? Any tips or trick? Love it or hate it?

Simple Weight Loss - 8 Rules

8 Rules

1. Do not eat any foods outside of the meal balance guidelines.

2. Weigh yourself ONLY once every 6 weeks.

3. Walk at least 7,000 steps total a day. Keep a pedometer in your purse. Do not perform exhausting workouts unless you are in great shape.

4. Focus on creating efficient, simple, consistent eating & exercise routines, not weight loss.

5. Do not count calories, carbs or fat grams. Just eat meats, vegetables and natural dairy (eggs & cheese)

6. Commit to 12 weeks on the Meal Balance program.

7. Prepare yourself to help others lose weight.

8. Ignore the skepticism of others and the noise inside of your head.

Follow these rules and your life will change.Break just one of these rules and you will likely fail.

Note: If you want to do more exercise, and continue on a current exercise routine, you certainly can! This will lead you to greater weight loss and/or fat% reduction. Don’t kill yourself though, you will lose the weight simply by following the above 8 Rules.

I love Sydney in the Spring time ...

It’s Saturday morning, the sun is hiding behind the clouds, but it doesn’t look as if it is going to rain. At least not yet.

We love walking – as you will know from previous posts – and so we set out for a leisurely stroll. The temperature is warm, but comfortable. We have our supply of water with us, and the sun starts to peep through the clouds – as if to say “I’ll come with you”.

We are fortunate to live so close to both the City and the coast. We can walk to the beach in less than ten minutes – admittedly, down a very steep hill (it takes me about 25 minutes to walk back up!) – and we have discovered some very nice coastal walks, too. It’s always a journey of discovery – the scenery seems to change each week and today, after a few showers, the vegetation has sprung back to life – the grass is green again, and so are the leaves on all the trees. But best of all are the beautiful colours of the flowers. The Jacaranda’s are out in full bloom - in fact, some are beginning to drop their flowers and the ground is covered in the most beautiful purple carpet.

As we walk along the coastal paths, there are beautiful butterflies fluttering around us; the parrots and cockatoos are eating the fruit on the trees, and the kookaburra’s join together in a loud laugh! We stop, and rest on a rock, perfectly formed as a seat, and watch the sail boats as they race on the harbour. The sun has won it’s battle behind the clouds, and the smell of jasmine fills the air. I take a deep breath. It’s just glorious.

Off we set to complete our walk – a full circle back to our home – and we feel good. Our walk has taken us up and down hills and steps and we feel we have made a solid contribution in our weight loss campaign!

Importance of a Healthy Diet

It’s no secret that obesity has reached epidemic levels globally over the past several years. Statistics show that there are over one billion obese adults around the world, and of those, at least 300 million are considered to be clinically obese. One of the main contributors to such high obesity levels is improper diet.

Super Size?

Fast food is convenient, affordable and in most cases quite tasty. For this reason, fast food is the meal of choice for many on the go parents and for college students who need the most bang for their buck. The problem, however is that fast food usually lacks in nutritional value, containing more empty calories and fat than protein, carbohydrates and other healthy nutrients.

Healthy Diet, Healthy Body

A well balanced diet provides the body with the nutrients it needs to fight off various illnesses and improve physical, mental and emotional wellness. Potassium rich foods aid in lowering blood pressure. The fiber contained in veggies and legumes aid in digestion, which in turn may help to lose weight. In addition to stress relief, vitamin C may aid the body in repair of cuts and wounds. Vitamin A promotes eye and skin health. A diet containing plenty of fruits and veggies lessens the risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure and several forms of cancer.

Conclusion

Obesity, heart disease and several other illnesses while not entirely controllable may be affected greatly by the choice of what we put in our bodies. Something so simple as adding more vegetables to the plate or only eating fast food once per month can lead to a longer, happier, healthier quality of life. The power is ours.

Discoveries and a Little FG and ISC Thrown In

I’ve missed Fat Girl and Inner Skinny Chick, haven’t you? I say, let’s bring them back into the mix today.

A lot has happened over the last few months. For one, Fat Girl has begun to reclaim her territory while Inner Skinny Chick has been more than content to let her do so. It seems that it is difficult for ISC to help me maintain my weight loss goals and stay sane at school while battling our nemesis FG. I think, just perhaps, ISC needs a little help! She needs a drill sergeant to keep her focused!

Maybe I can find one…

This morning I decided that I had to get up at 5 a.m. so that I could put together some last minute notes, and look up some things that woke me up in the middle of the night about that book I was reviewing during my presentation. I just hate when I can’t remember the name of a character and I didn’t want to stand up in front of a class and look ridiculous as I tried to recall it. It was better to take care of that before I went to school.

What I came to realize this morning is that if I can get out of bed at 5 a.m. to work on a presentation, then I can get out of bed at 5 a.m. to exercise. So that is my goal for the coming week. From now on, when my feet hit the floor, I’m to be heading to the treadmill for some serious exercise!

It’s really bad when you have to tell yourself to do this, but since school started back, I have seriously neglected my workouts. I always tell myself that I will do it in the afternoon or evening, but each day I find an excuse not to do it.

When I stepped on the scales this week, I was shocked to find that I had gained back 10 pounds. It was horrifying after all the work I had accomplished over the summer. My eating habits have become rather lazy, too, so I’m in serious need of another overhaul in that department. In fact, I’ve gotten slack on so many things that I don’t know where to start!

I suppose, to create healthy habits, it has to start with exercise. If I can’t add in exercise, nothing I do is going to matter. That means making a commitment to myself to get up at 5a.m. and workout before school. My CH’s mission, should he choose to accept it, is to ask me every day if I have exercised. I don’t care how upset I get; I want someone to hold me accountable!

So… tomorrow starts the big day! Cross your fingers! And… hey… ISC… What are you doing?

Bed?

Already?

Why?

Oh, I guess sleeping would help. ‘Nite all!

day four

yesterday i went to a group interview session at lululemon, unfortunately located in our local mall. my first impulse is to make snide remarks about my fellow attendees. i’m trying to change those habits. there were 10 of us sitting on yoga mats in the middle of the mall, between jacob and town shoes, down wind of the juice bar, pointed at the perky store manager. i envied her. not just her adorable head of curls and thin frame but her impossibly positive outlook on just about everything and sweet, easygoing nature.

after an hour in our mall circle, i was surprised to find myself really wanting the job. i don’t like retail and i don’t like the mall but, and i cringe at the hokey-ness that seeps from this remark, but i bought into the culture. the whole idea of making physical fitness, goal-setting and reading books like ‘a new earth’ and ‘the four agreements’ a part of your work environment sounds perfect for me and in line with all these grand plans i have to improve my life. i think it’s the sort of job that could really help me realize these goals.

plus, there’s always the possibility of moving up in the company. apparently they’re opening more stores in the u.s. and are planning to hire some canadians to help with that. i’d like to be one of those. maybe move to some place like texas for a year. fall in love with a cowboy. raise some kids and horses on a ranch. what’s life without a little fantasy?

Cheating on Sasha Fierce

I don’t even know where to begin blogging. I have all these drafts started with titles/subjects of things I wanted to blog about…as soon as I adjusted to work and could think again by the end of a day. I think I will start off with a fun one.

Almost 3 weeks ago now, my team lead at my new job and I were talking about things we like to do. I had sent out an email to my new team while I was in training introducing myself to them all. In this email I had included a short thing about how I am training to do a triathlon.

Tim couldn’t believe it! He of course only has one idea of triathlon. Ironman. Ummm No Tim. Not an Ironman. Not for me. Not now and since it requires running a marathon (and I am quite insistent that I won’t ever desire to do THAT), I likely will never do a full Ironman. Anyway, I digress. We were talking about my new interest in biking as that is the only leg I have not done. He is training to do a 150 mile MS bike ride next year himself and loves biking as well. All of this conversation led to an invitation to go Mountain Biking with him and his buddy, Bob. How we went from road biking to Mt. Biking, I am not sure.

Now mind you, I have NEVER Mt. biked before. I had NO IDEA if I could do it and was not sure I wanted to take the risk of thoroughly embarrassing myself in front of 2 men I don’t know. It’s not like it is any of my normal guys I do things with, who love me no matter what. These guys don’t know me to love me if I totally hold them back or screw up or can’t do it at all.

But I kind of wanted to try it. Adam has talked about his love of Mt. Biking before and I always thought it sounded kind of fun when he described it. I mean seriously…high chance of getting muddy and wet while riding a bike! What is not fun about that!

So I made it VERY clear to Tim that I had no idea what I was doing or if I could even do it or keep up with them. If I am to go, he HAS to understand that I am a beginner. His response was this.

“Kim, we are not hardcore. We do this for fun. Besides, you just rode 22 miles a couple weeks ago AND you are training for a triathlon. You will be fine.”

I chose to trust this man I don’t know. Of course I called Adam a couple of times to get all the tips I could about Mt. Biking. He checked out the trail for me online and gave me all sorts of pointers and then anxiously waited for me to give him my post ride report. (He REALLY wanted me to have a good time and to like Mt. Biking!)

So here is the post ride report.

Mt. Biking is AMAZING!!! It is biking on a mostly narrow path at higher speeds. You race through mud pits and sand pits. You fly between trees hoping you don’t hit one. You might encounter obstacles along the way like bridges to cross or log piles to go over. (no log piles for me this day)

It was like riding a roller coaster. You are nervous as you wait in line. The anticipation and anxiety building with every passing minute. Then as you get going, slowly at first it continues to build. Then you head down that first big hill and all you want to do is close your eyes AND throw your hands in the air because it is both thrilling and terrifying all at the same time. However, there are no mega magnets holding me to the course. I am driving and I MUST focus on the 3-5 feet in front of me at all times or else I am toast. Ride over. I must keep my eyes open and hands firmly on my handle bars.

As I whizzed past trees and over bridges, noises were bursting forth out of me. Squeals of delight and terror. I could not control them. They were as automatic as breathing. Tim and Bob were often just enough ahead to be out of sight but they would hear my squeals and wonder if I had fallen. Nope, not I. I did not fall once. I will most definitely do this again, much to Adam’s delight!

In the end, these guys were great to ride with. They gave me pointers, went slow enough for me to keep up and never got too far ahead that I couldn’t at least hear them ahead of me.

If I keep up with all these athletic endeavors, I will have to get a second job to support my habits and so I can get a sister for Sasha Fierce. (my road bike) I cheated on her once, and I think it could be an affair that I will continue with…next season.

For Real

It takes me about 60 seconds to derail.

And sometimes not even that long.

I’ve taken a real notice lately to my orally-fixated response to a crisis. Or even a pseudo-crisis.

It is my immediate knee-jerk reaction, STILL, to eat something, drink something, or smoke something whenever something goes wrong. I don’t act upon it the way I once did, but the thoughts and feelings about medicating my hurt are still there. I’m starting to think they always will be.

Why does it take me so long to admit that I’ve lost motivation?

Pride.

That’s all it is. Freaking pride.

This year I have experienced things I’ve never experienced before, and it’s grown me up in ways I never even knew possible. I know that everyone experiences their own crap, but I’ve really gone through it emotionally this year. It took the loss of my grandmother to teach me how inately selfish I am. By nature. It took the unrequited romantic interest of a great man to teach me that while sex can be a great thing, it’s not the only thing. But unrequited love still hurts. Also, the past 2 months I have gone out with 9 men. I have also been waiting nervously to find out if my insurance company is going to pay for Zion to go to Little Star Center, a school for children with Autism.

These are the reasons I am all over the place emotionally. And have put on 15 pounds in a month.

These are also my excuses for said weight gain.

We all have issues. The trick is learning to deal with them without pouring a substance all over it.

The Body Image Battle

My mother is having her fifth cosmetic procedure today, although in all fairness, it is to correct the botched third and fourth procedures. But the truth is, she didn’t need any of them. Her body was great the way it was, and if her thighs were a little too big or her upper arms a little saggy, we, her family, didn’t care. However, no amount of reassurance from us could ever convince her to leave her body alone.

Growing up, I had no idea my mother’s breasts weren’t real. I kept waiting for my tiny, rather misshapen (in my opinion then) breasts to magically transform into the perfectly round, large boobs my mom possessed. It never happened. For years, I wondered what went wrong and why my body failed me. My mother could have saved me a lot of agony by telling me that hers weren’t the real deal and that Mother Nature doesn’t dole out “perfect” breasts. While I understand that back then plastic surgery was a great big secret, it still irks me that she never took the time to consider how her surgically enhanced breasts affected my body image.

By the time she got her second set (larger than the first), I had been brought up to speed. She doesn’t keep it much of a secret anymore; regardless, there was no way I was going to keep it from my daughters. My ten year old knows full well that breasts like Grandma’s don’t come from nature – they come from a surgeon. She’s also been privy to the conversations about Grandma’s other procedures. She has seen the emotional and physical anguish this fifty-something woman goes through in her quest for a twenty year old’s body. And, thank God, she has the common sense to realize that it’s not healthy.

I’ve tried to convey to my kids the notion that a healthy body is what matters. You need a healthy body to keep up with the horses, run, and play volleyball. We’re a fairly active family, and we tend to focus more on what bodies can do, rather than what they look like. However, I’m no saint – I struggle with my weight from time to time, which is impossible to hide from observant children. So I tell my daughter, “Everyone has a weight they feel comfortable at. I’m not trying to turn my body into something unrealistic. I just want my jeans to fit.” And it’s true. While I can see where it would be easy to fall into the trap of thinking that skinnier is better, I’m happy to be a regular ol’ size 8. I have a weight and body mass in the exact middle of the “normal” range for my height, and I’m good with that. I’m a middle-aged mom with two kids under my belt, not a runway model in my twenties.

It took me years to become comfortable in my own skin. I don’t think I really achieved it until I trained for and ran a marathon. Running gave me a whole different perspective on the amazing human body. And even now that I don’t run so much (other than the occasional 5k with my daughter), I still have that reverence for my body. In my recent obsession with horses, I’ve realized how important our bodies are in conveying meaning to other living creatures. My horses don’t care if I put on an extra five pounds, they’re just looking for the message I’m sending them by how I move my body.

Our bodies are beautiful vehicles of communication and expression, and I’m so thankful that I’ve come to know this. I’m glad I have been blessed with daughters with whom I can share this knowledge and encourage them to embrace their own bodies with love, not loathing. Although I do not agree with my mother’s decisions to surgically alter her body, I do hope that everything turns out the way she hopes. I wish for her to finally have a sense of peace and contentment about her body.

Labels

Just when I thought today was going to be an okay day, the universe pulls the rug out from under me. Now im not really one for labels, unless you count kmart and big W as labels…but i guess most people dont. I mean i guess they have labels on them…but it doesnt really count when you cut them off so your boyfriend cant tell what size you really are…or is that just me? Anyway, when it comes to other people labelling me, the story plays out a little differently.

You will not believe what happened to me today. There I am, driving along in my car, doing the usual (aka playing a song that was last heard when my grandma last redecorated her house and dancing as if my car has tinted windows) when I pull up at a pedestrian crossing. So far, so good. So im sitting there with my window down, smiling to myself about my new fit life, wondering which lean cusine I am going to heat up from the freezer tonight, when i hear the words ”Get a life you fat bitch.” Ummm, Cue ‘My world comes crashing down’

Why didn’t she just take a knife and jab it in to my oversized chest…I mean, what the hell! I mean now that im home and writing this i can think of hundreds of things i could have said to her, such as “Its alright because I have tits you would have to pay for” or the never-fail “Well i can loose weight but, sorry hunny, you will be stuck with that face forever.” Damn why am i always think of the perfect thing to say after the event. Thats no bloody use. It would have been so fantastic, and then i could have sped of into the sunset laughing…but what actually happened was big tears started splashing down my face. When did the world become so damn cruel. She not only has ruined my drive to the fruit shop, but she ruined my whole day to. I know a shrink would tell me something along the lines of ‘that girl was just trying to make herself feel better about her own deep-set issues by taking it out on you.’ But seriously, as if that makes it anybetter? When did the world get so messed up.All I was doing was driving around in my car. How dare I think I have the right to share the road with a skinny person! Anyway…now i have even more reason to hit the gym. With my new found inspiration, i drive on – ready to get skinny and therefore get happy. Ofcourse as one side of my brain is planning for my gym days, the other side is mentally preparing myself to make sure that next time, I ‘accidently’ put my foot on the accelerator and accidently run that skinny bitch over. I mean, im only human!

Spinach Binge…

A few amazing things happened today – One was that I ate healthily! Yes, I’m serious. I had porridge and low fat milk for breakfast, banana and apple for snack, Weight Watchers soup for lunch, fruit cup and diet mousse for afternoone tea and a lean cuisine for dinner!! I know, I know, I can hear all the gym junkies saying ‘Ummm, that eating plan is actually way to high in carbs/fat/sugar/fresh air but there was no pizza or KFC chips in there so I am bloody proud of myself! Ok, second thing that happened is….drumroll please…..I went to a gym class! I didn’t just look through the glass either – and I actually went!

Ok..and thirdly, If I am being completley honest, I am having a really hard day today. As soon as I woke up thinking about fried chicken and Salivating on my pillow (sexy…I know) I knew it was going to be a shocker of a day. Had porridge and fruit for breakfast, was still hungry. Had a shower, was still hungry. Cleaned entire apartment, was still thinking about food. Decided that instead of moping around all day thinking about food was not going to be the most productive exercise, and that I should go to the gym instead– excellent idea! Nothing like a few endorphins to get me back on that ‘eating healthy’ bandwagon! Or so I thought… I had seen an offer that the gym near my house was having, to entice us fatties inside. ‘Come on in Lardarse and try a class for free!’ Or something like that…anyway, I chose an aerobics class, slipped into my size 22 tracksuit pants and rummaged through the back of my garage cupboard until I found my runners that I had bought from kmart six months ago when I was ‘seriously going to get fit this time.’
So the class started off okay…we sat on theses little aerobic step things, picked up some weights from the other side of the room, and my heart rate was pumping hard. I was getting fit! I was doing a gym class! – Then the instructor came in, and the class started. About, say, 43 seconds into the class I knew this was a big, big mistake. The kind of mistake that leaves you explaining ‘I know that it’s your birthday and everything…but that cake, you know, the one that was in the fridge? Well…its kind of…umm…not there anymore…’
We stepped up and down and around to music that could only sound good if you were 16 and trying to sneak into a club. Despite the music, I convinced myself that I was burning calories of my hugw wobbly bum, and each step was getting me closer to the ‘oh, size 10? That was soooo two months ago’ zone. To say that this class hurt would be the understatement of the century. It burned. I could feel my pulse in my forehead – and that just ain’t natural. So after the warm-up, we actually got into the hard stuff – cardio (shudder). Four minutes down, 41 to go. I tried to tell myself that the only way through was, well, through! I managed to do about two thirds of the step-up things, and just kept telling myself ‘just do one more Nyz you can do it, just do one more set – problem with this theory is, that I learnt the hard way how all gym instructors are blatant liars – because ‘one more time!’ actually translates into ‘fifteen more to go and then we will do it all again next track!’ Dammit.
The real highlight of the class for me was about three quarters of the way through, when I felt a shower of water over me. Initially I was relived, realising that the other staff at the gym must have finally become aware of my severe discomfort and thought they should offer me a much needed chilled beverage. Aparently not, I realised with horror as it slowly came to my attention that the ‘cool shower’ I had felt was actually drips of sweat from the hair of the guy next to me. Agh, I hate the gym. I had to sit out of about half the class. I was so emmbarased – as if my size 22 bum wasn’t emmbarsing enough, my unfit heart was now showing off for everyone to see. Eventually we got to the warm down. I was greatly appreciative when, with ten minutes to go, the instructor informed us that we could all lie down. About bloody time! No sooner had I rolled lovingly onto the floor do I hear the over enthusiastic words ‘Okay guys!…, get ready!…., first set now!…, and crunch! Crunch! Crunch! One more time, and crunch! Crunch! crunch!’ I felt like standing up and shouting ‘Okay guys…. and Vomit, vomit! Vomit from all that hard work!’ But, I didn’t have the energy so I just lay on the ground and attempted to raise my arms in time with everyone else, so at least it would look like I was doing the sit-ups. Surely just being in a room with lots of fit people burns thousands of calories?
When it was finally over, I stumbled over to get my bag. On the way there, the instructor tapped me on the shoulder. Shit, even her shoulder tapping was enthusiastic. She explained that I had done a great job, and if I just stick at it, I will be astounded at how much my body will change and my fitness will improve. That made me feel really optimistic – I even felt like a fit chick! …That was until she topped our conversation off with ‘Don’t worry that you’re the worst in the class babe, everyone has got to start somewhere – and no one is judging you, not even me!’ (and yes…I am serious) Aghh I hate the gym. Exit stage left.

Came home – still wanted to binge. Looked in the fridge, but somehow a buffet of spinach leaves and diet yoghurt was just not that appealing. Tried to do something to distract myself – so I had another bath. Spoke to the boy on the phone, had an argument over something completely stupid, proceeded to get out of the bath, and ‘poof!’ – I mysteriously ended up standing right in front of the fridge, staring inside like a mad woman. Why does that always happen? Desperate to not allow myself to eat crap, but also desperate to comfort eat, I attempted to eat some spinach leaves from the packet, but they just didn’t do the job for me. I pictured myself as Bridget Jones – that point in the movie when she carves the mould off the piece of feral cheese and then eats some cereal straight from the box. Mmmmm cereal, that’s actually not a bad idea.
No, mustn’t eat cereal, I’m not actually hungry – just bored. Shit, is it this hard for everyone? Has every woman who has ever been successful at loosing weight gone through this? No wonder so many people give up. Urgently tried to think of something to cheer me up/stop me from staring at the fridge/not allow myself to drive to the nearest supermarket to spend $89 on a binge. So, after much deliberation, I decided to have another bath. Wow, what a thrilling life I do lead. Going to bed now. Maybe tomorrow will be a brighter day. Night x

My Six Week Cure: Week 4

My Six Week Cure: Week 4 Results

On October 9, I completed the FOURTH WEEK of the program, outlined in:
The 6-Week Cure for the Middle-Aged Middle: The Simple Plan to Flatten Your Belly Fast! by Dr. Michael Eades and Dr. Mary Dan Eades

In Four Weeks:

I lost a total of 12 pounds and 2.5 inches from my belly!

My Fasting Blood Glucose has dropped by 118 mg/dL!

Sorry for the delayed results, but I left for the UK on October 9, and did not have time to post my final results before I left. So, this post shows my final results for my first round with the FIRST FOUR WEEKS of The Six Week Cure!

After the first four weeks of the 6-Week Cure, the Eades recommend that people who have more belly fat than can be lost in 4-6 weeks can repeat and alternate the 3+1 shake plan with the near-meat-only plan. Since I have more than 100 pounds to lose, I will definitely be repeating from weeks 1-4 for a while instead of proceeding to the maintenance plan.

Here are my measurements for week 4

Week

Date

9/12

9/19

9/26

10/3

10/9

Height

Weight

260

255

254

253

248

Pants

26W

T-Shirt

3XL

2XL

Waist

49.5

49.25

48.5

Hips

51.5

51.25

50.5

WHR

0.96

fBGL

246

209

161

112

128

See Table Notes

Final Comments

I’m not sure what happened to my blood sugar during the last week, but I’m still very happy that it is so close to normal. I probably had a few indulgences towards the end there…

I bought some protein powder yesterday so I can start over. I am hoping to get at least a partial round in before Thanksgiving. Starting tomorrow, I’ll do two weeks of the protein shakes, and then do the meat diet until the end of November, except for a couple of “free meals” I’ll take for my family’s various Thanksgiving celebrations. I’ll post results monthly from now on, instead of weekly, so I can do more posting about topics other than the Six-Week Cure.

After completing only 4 weeks of the six-week program, I feel that this is one of the most successful and helpful “weight-loss programs” I have come across in a long time. This experience has shifted my opinion further towards the all-meat, or nearly-all-meat, diet. By the end of the four weeks, I was feeling better than I have in many years.

I did really well staying very low carb while travelling, until the last few days in London, where I ate less meat and more vegetables than I had previously. I took several pictures of the foods I ate in Wales, and am planning to post about that next week.

After I got home, I caught a mild cold, and went completely off Low Carb while recovering. I know that is a bad idea, but it’s done now, and I’m starting on the protein shakes again tomorrow! So, that’s that. Unfortunately, this lapse will have reversed some of the progress I made on my blood glucose before my trip!! But that, too, will recover.

So, That’s a Wrap!

Lovin’ It Low Carb
Ramona Denton

The Beginning

Well, here is my first blog on my Curvey Girl sight. I have other blog spaces, but here I hope to air my feelings about my weight and how I use it to hold myself back in this life.

Today is Halloween and my kids have now filled the house with candy. I am now nearing my highest weight ever (again) and it’s time to do something about it. No more excuses. No using my arthritis and prednisone as an excuse. There are too many people out there far worse off than me. I can move, I have all my faculties and the shame I carry is my own.

I have it all. Well, almost. I have good healthy kids, I am in the process of buying a home, all on my own I might add and besides my weight, some would consider me “pretty.” This is a sticky subject for me, as I have been taught you can’t be pretty if you are fat. But my friends tell me I am pretty. I don’t feel pretty. I feel like I do my best to hide under the radar and not attract too much attention to my fatness.

I want to start here. To work on myself, and hopefully get inspiration from others here, maybe I can inspire others and we can hold each other up when needed.

My dream and goal has always been to run a race. Nothing big, not a marathon, just a 5K or something, well this would be a big deal to me. Especially since right now I don’t think I could run to the end of the driveway and back without being completely winded.

I hope I gain some friends here going through the same thing. I hope I find friends who get my self-deprecating humor and can laugh with me. I look forward to meeting you.

Peace to you all,

Curvey Girl

A scary Halloween weigh-in

Day 78

Each year I buy a bag of Snickers bars, a bag of tootsie rolls, and a bag of Kit Kat bars. I put them in a big Halloween bowl and pray for Trick or Treaters to knock on my door so that none will be left over. Snickers loves Halloween because that was the day that I brought him home to live with me eight years ago. He was so sweet that I just had to name him after a candy bar.

That first year he wasn’t sure what to make of the children ringing the doorbell and yelling “Trick or Treat!” But each year since then he looks forward to the excitement of having visitors all dressed up in funny costumes come to the house. This year I dressed as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz and Snickers pretended that he was the little dog “Toto.”

Snickers gets ready for Trick or Treaters

Snickers helped me to get things ready and as soon as I put the plastic pumpkin out in front of the door, he knew what he had to do. He spread out by the doorway and waited patiently until he heard someone approach. Then he started barking and jumping at the door. He was really trying to be scary! But as soon as I opened the door and he ran out to greet the visitors no one was scared. Instead all we heard was “Oh, what a cute little dog!”

Tomorrow I will take the leftover candy to work and let someone else be tempted by it.

Snickers as Toto

Yesterday was weigh-in day and I really was not looking forward to it. I knew that the news would not be good. To be honest I have been sort of bummed out. I don’t like that I couldn’t stay disciplined while I was staying with my grandchildren. I felt discouraged and disheartened.

I started the 20 lb struggle with so much enthusiasm and positive feeling. But now I felt like I had failed. I wanted to get my motivation back but I just felt defeated. I was telling all this to one of my friends when she said something interesting that changed everything for me.

What she said was, “You have worked hard for the past ten weeks and you lost 14 lbs. You deserve a vacation. Some time off. Maybe you gained a few pounds on your vacation from the 20 lbs struggle, but you didn’t gain it ALL back. Give yourself a break and then get back on track.”

So that’s what I did.

I decided that I had had my vacation and now it was time to step onto the scale and get back to business. I was scared. But it wasn’t because of Halloween Horrors. I was scared to see the damage that I had done while I wasn’t paying attention to what I was eating.

One foot. Then the other. I closed my eyes. And then I looked. I had only gained two pounds! It wasn’t as bad as I feared. I can do this. I can lose those two pounds. And. I can lose six more! After all I’m already 12 pounds gone. That’s a pretty good head start as a begin my renewed effort in the 20 lb struggle.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Sunday, November 1, 2009

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