Quote of the Day

“Ruin and recovering are both from within.”
– Epictetus

ONLY YOU have the power to be happy, healthy, vibrant - or not! It’s up to each of us to treat our bodies and others with the respect they deserve!

This may sound like a lot still to go to you, but to me it’s past the half way point. I’m over the hump and on my way down the other side. Today’s WW weigh-in was great after my platue of the past 4 weeks. Puts me just under 45 lbs lost since April 19th. Most of this journey has been without much struggle, but a lot of effort. Planning, preparing and purchasing the food takes time. Staying on plan is easy once the hard work is done.

Today I had my first brownie - it is a WW recipe using one box brownie mix and one 15oz can black beans blended till smooth. After eating my 2 inch square I became immediately hungry, really hungry - I couldn’t get full. Well, that’s enough of that for me. I know what my body likes and what it doesn’t like and it doesn’t like sugary desserts, cakes, breads. Little brownie - huge lesson!

Does anyone out there watch Dr. Oz? Did you catch the episode where he told us how to calculate our daily caloric needs? his formula is 200 calories for normal breathing, heart beating, etc… then your weight x 8…. plus any activity calories you burn. That’s what you need to live to maintain. To maintain my 190 pounds I need 200+1520+ activity calories. To figure out how much I need to maintain 154 is 1230 plus 200 plus activities. I like this calculation. I just love Dr. Oz!

I reached my mini goal plus changed my “need to lose” status from 50-100 to 25-50 pounds today. It feels so good to be making progress, although I’ve slowed down in weekly weight lost pounds I’m reaching my mini-goals and sticking with it. I actually RAN this last weekend on my treadmill for only one minute, but I RAN. My heart rate was up there and so is my pride. My major goal is to be able to run again. I ran as a kid, didn’t we all - but I was fast. Won most races. I want to be able to run with my grandkids now. Someday I will.

Since beginning this journey April 19th 2009 I have lost a total of 35 pounds and 11 inches, from 229 to 194 on the Weight Watchers program. I love this program. I also love walking. I love the fact that my Mom attends meetings with me. We are getting to know our crowd. Grand total for our center last week was 464 pounds lost. WW is promoting food donations, a pound for a pound till Oct. 16th.

“When you encounter difficulties and contradictions, do not try to break them, but bend them with gentleness and time.”
– St. Francis De Sales

So I’m at the mall yesterday walking by a kioske when someone offers me hand lotion. It smells good, claims to be organic so I step up. After two or more hours with these people I walk away spending over $700.00 on product. Immediate buyers remorse. Cannot sleep all night, decide today I’m taking most of it back. I did buy some product for my grandson who has a skin condition. Some for my daughter who has acne - but most of it is for me “and in my search for more youthful skin” purchased way too much product. I’ve been agonizing over it all night long, each time I woke with that in the forefront of my mind. I do things like this, but not as dramatic as this. I cannot tell my husband, I just need it wiped from the credit card. I guess I’m an easy target and they sure saw me coming. Feeling terrible, kind of sick to my stomach because I hate confrontation and have to go back today to talk these people into giving me my money back. Why do I do these things?

“Victory is won not in miles but in inches. Win a little now, hold your ground, and later, win a little more.”
– Louis L’Amour

Finally - below the 200s …wooohooo. I cannot tell you how excited I am, but perhaps you can hear it in my words. And although this isn’t my official weigh in day at WW I’m counting it here. This is my 14th week on the WW program and I must say it is working rather well for me. I reached 31lbs loss today - that’s the weight of my 3 year old grand-daughter. When you look at it like loosing an entire person - no matter what size - it’s a great accomplishment. Loving WW and the support I get on BS. Thank you Everyone!