Health Is The Greatest Gift... December to Remember


Health is the greatest gift,
contentment the greatest wealth,
faithfulness the best relationship. 
Buddha

















December is going to hold GREAT THINGS for me and – if you want to join me – for you, too!  My intention is to jump back into the sane, planned, ordered life where I give as much attention to my own health and happiness as I do to those around me. My past two months of vegging in front of mindless television at night because I am just so exhausted from facing life’s challenges are OVER!  Done! Caput!  (Is that a word? lol)  I have had some major challenges the past few months and I am ashamed at the way I pushed my health and fitness to the back-burner and fell victim to old, bad habits.


But I am the only one in charge of my health and happiness.  No one else is going to make things different in my life besides myself.  Even December’s promise of Santa’s visit can’t bring a magical weight loss or present that will make me not need to get up off my lazy butt and exercise regularly.

There is only answer for me: REGULAR activity and DAILY monitoring of food going into my body!  Not once in a while going out for a walk.  Not walking down to the Post Office (1/2 mile round trip!) and thinking “oh, I got my walk for the day in!”.  Not watching what I eat and portion sizes four out of seven of the days in the week.  Nope.  REGULAR and PLANNED exercise and activity and EVERY SINGLE DAY of planned food and measured portion size.  I *KNOW* this works for me and I know it will work for anyone else who commits to their own success and health and happiness!

Okay, not THAT kind of Amazonian! 
I have had some exciting news in the past few weeks.   I am an Amazonian! lol  I have accepted a position with Amazon in their Cambridge, MA new office.  I will be out in Seattle for training and to meet some of my long-distance peers next week.  Am I concerned about being able to do the job? Nope!  I know I will rock the job.  What am I concerned about???  My WEIGHT!  Argh!!  I thought I was done with this… but slowly and surely I have had regained weight and now is the time to take it off.

I am turning my back to all the advertisements and articles about “Holiday Weight Gain” and turning on this incredible December gift to myself called WILL POWER!  In December of 2010 I actually lost weight during the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas and was at my lowest weight, exercising regularly and loving life.  December weight loss and finding time for fitness can be done and I plan to do it AGAIN – come join me! J

Let’s make this December the month of our lives when we look back for the rest of our long, healthy lives and say, “December 2012 was the month when I really turned things around for myself.  When I regained myself and my will power.  When I became proud of myself again.  December 2012 is when I finally COMMITTED to me!”  How great will that be to say from here on in for the rest of your life?  Let’s DO THIS! 

Continue on to the December to Remember Challenge post (below this one) for details if you’d like to join in with me!

Here’s to our health!

Dream. Believe. Achieve.
Jan / HealthyLoserGal

December To Remember Challenge


How do I plan to make this coming month a December To Remember?

November 30th I will be writing out my goals for December.  I will write them in my journal.  I will put them in the Notes on my smart phone and I will be posting them on the bathroom mirror and the frig in my kitchen!   Front and center.  I will see them every day, multiple times a day so I can’t ignore them!

I will plan my food for the week and leave one day to “whatever I feel like”.  I know myself well enough to know that I cannot plan and stick to every single day of the week.  So, one day is ‘off’ but when I’m doing well and really rocking the rest of my goals, even that one day won’t be a free for all.  I won’t be pulling up to the barbeque all-you-can-eat, in otherwords! lol  When I lost weight and gained control of my eating through the Vtrim program I often used recipes from Eating Well Cookbooks and Eating Well Magazine.  Their online site is here  and it offers great low-fat recipes as well as a free treasure trove of healthy tips and information.   

I will go shopping to buy food for the week (since I will have planned it out) and I will STICK TO THE LIST! J I tend to be an ‘oh! This looks great, I should get THIS!’ shopper which helps neither my waistline nor my wallet! *grin* Today I saw a great slide show on AOL’s Live Better America that features healthy, filling foods – many of which I’ll be incorporating into my December food plan.

Measuring out food is so key to weight loss so I will continue to use my trusty little red food scale and my measuring cups and spoons and measure all food and snacks. It is amazing what restaurants will serve for portion sizes, so if I am eating out I will go back to my old habit of asking for a ‘to go’ box right when I order my meal so the waitress knows I plan to cut the portion in half (or thirds) and take the rest with me.  Don’t be ashamed to do this, it happens in restaurants all the time and the waitress or waiter will be glad to accommodate your request.

Let’s get our bodies moving in December. You must include some planned activity into 4 of your  7 days each week.  If you’re obese or morbidly obese, please check with your doctor and know your BMI score. Don’t overdo so that you’ll be so sore you want to give up.  Start slowly and work up. My own plan is to walk 2-4 miles 5 days a week (whether inside to DVDs like Leslie Sansone’s Walk at Home or outside around my neighborhood or near my new office near MIT’s campus) and then to get to the gym or use my home WII Fit DVDs for weight and resistance training two days a week. 

Health.com photo credit
Also, I have found myself standing in a lot of lines in the holiday months and I have begun to do leg exercises in line… I rise up to my tiptoes (standing calf raise) and then back down… up and down… if I have the room, I do a few lunges and tighten up my core.  If you don’t interrupt those around you, no one seems to mind or notice and those who do notice are secretly admiring you!  : )


One final thing – accountability!  Please plan to check in regularly either through comments here on the blog, on Twitter using the hashtag #hlgDec2Rem or on the HealthyLoser Gal Facebook page!  Helping one another out through both the challenges and all the victories I know we will be having is so important.  You’re not alone – you have company on this challenge!  And (repeat after me…) we CAN and WILL do this!

So there you go – I hope you’ll join in the December To Remember Challenge.  #hlgDec2Rem on Twitter!  Let me know if you’re “in” and want to be part of the challenge. We will be giving ourselves the present that only we can give to ourselves:  the gift of weight loss, health, and self-esteem!

Dream. Believe. Achieve!
Jan / HealthyLoserGal