You Know... Bloody Mary Was One Smart South Pacific Lady!


As I drove from Boston to Vermont today, I was listening to TheSecret DVDs which I really enjoy. I always find some new inspiration in them. Today I was drawn to the lesson of how you have to BE READY to accept the gifts you've asked for! And how the lessons of The Secret are - in a nutshell - really Bible based and very simply put:
  1. Ask
  2. Believe
  3. Receive
Here are some Bible references to back up this:
"And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall
receive." Mat 21:21-22
"Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have
received it, and it will be yours." Mark 11:24
But in order to truly put your heart into something to ask and then believe in, YOU HAVE TO HAVE THE GUTS TO DREAM IT.

I think, so many times, those of us on the journey to good health and our perfect weight, have let ourselves slip backwards, that we don't DARE dream of the reality of what life will be like when we're healthy. So, today- I day-dreamed a good deal of my four hour car ride on what my life will be like.
  • What will I physically feel like?
  • What will I be able to do again that I don't do now?
  • Where will I feel comfortable going that I don't now?
  • How will I walk into a room?
  • Who do I want to have share my life with me? (That was a fun day-dream! lol)
  • And how will I continue to maintain my perfect weight and health - what will my joyful daily regime be?
You know what?? - I imagined it all and I hadn't taken the time to do this before. I didn't TRULY have a dream. I kind of had a vision of what I might like. But now I feel differently.

I imagined jumping into a kayak with a two piece bathing suit on and having a gorgeous man who is fun and the love of my life jump in behind me and paddling on a quiet lake and loving life. And now I KNOW in my heart I will get there. I have felt the happiness (just by imagining this!) that I'll feel when that actually takes place.
All those years ago when I watched South Pacific and loved it so much, it was teaching me a valuable lesson that came flooding back to me today as I recalled Bloody Mary's important lesson of "Happy Talk".
Happy talk, keep talkin' happy talk,
Talk about things you'd like to do.
You got to have a dream,
If you don't have a dream,
How you gonna have a dream come true?


So DREAM THE DREAM you REALLY TRULY want, my friends. Ask yourself the questions that will lead you to believe in your dreams and feel them in your heart. Dream and believe and achieve. We can do this... no dream is too big for our imaginations and then the Universe to see come true! : )
Dedicated to my dear high school friend, Vincent, whom I sang this song with and acted out the little happy talkin' hands with countless, happy times. RIP .

Another Photo Update

September 4th after work - 237 lbs.

Okay, so I can notice the belly bloat isn't quite as bad. Nice to see the results of the weight loss. I try to take the photo(s) in the same spot and wearing the same clothes or type of clothes month to month. I'm at 40 lbs. lost thru Weight Watchers (insert very big grin here, please!!) and started taking photos around 267 lbs. in late March. I really want to be down another 10 lbs. to 225 (227 I would take! lol) by October 17th, the end of the Weight Watchers "Lose for Good" campaign where lost pounds translate to food for families in need. Such a worthwhile cause!

Peanut Butter with 85% LESS Calories = WOoooHOoooo!

Okay, so I love Love LOVE peanut butter… I admit freely that probably 20+ pounds that I have to lose are probably directly related to over-indulgence in peanut butter frenzies. Not a pretty site, lemme tell ya!

As we talk about in Weight Watchers’ meetings, creamy peanut butter is definitely a “trigger food” for me. I can’t just have one little smidge of peanut butter over a piece of whole wheat toast. Nope. One smidge leads to 1/3 of the jar gone! YIKES!!

With all that said, I am SO thrilled to say that there is an alternative that is REAL peanut butter with 85 percent LESS calories. There is ‘powered peanut butter’ called PB2 that you can search for on the Bell Plantation site to see where it is sold locally. I had to travel about 10 miles and it is a little expensive ($7.50 for the ‘jar’) but I am happy to report


IT TASTES INCREDIBLE!!!


I was very skeptical to try it but my love of peanut butter and my worry that I’m going to go nuts and run to the grocery store at midnight some night to buy a tub of Skippy (lol!) made me investigate this. I first heard of it thru a Facebook post made my Tara Costa (BL#8 finalist) who said right after the final weigh-in she went for the powered peanut butter. That caught MY interest, I can tell you! So I researched, emailed Tara directly and sure enough – it is the Bell Plantation powered PB2!

Last night I measured out 2 tablespoons of the power and added a tbsp of cold water and mixed, mixed, mixed ‘til it was smooth. And it DID get smooth. It was a little too dry at first so I added a few more drops of water and VOILA! Creamy, spreadable peanut butter and only 50 calories / 1.25 WW points as opposed to the 190 calories /5 WW points in 2 tablespoons of my beloved Skippy! In Healthy Loser Gal terms that means I can have a peanut-butter-craving-fulfilling-time with eight tablespoons of PB2 for about the same calories as two little tablespoons! Count me IN! : ) And yes, I plan to have celery and peanut butter tonight as a happy snack (maybe with Granny Smith apples, too!) while watching the Red Sox game!

If you get it and try it – let me know how you like it. Oh!, for you chocolate lovers… there is a powered peanut butter and chocolate variety!! You just add water and you have peanut butter cup taste with less than half the calories!! Wooohoooo!