What Are You Waiting For?

I heard this song for the first time during The Biggest Loser show last week. I looked up the lyrics online and found a link on YouTube to the music by a young Christian artist, Britt Nicole.


The lyrics so speak to where I am in my life and where many of us are... taking those first steps to becoming a new and better version of ourselves. We step out in faith... knowing we've failed before and going ahead anyways... putting that fear behind us and jumping out... trusting in ourselves... because we know - deep down - that we CAN do this!

So what are you waiting for?

WALK ON WATER LYRICS:

You look around
It's staring back at you
Another wave of doubt
Will it pull you under
You wonder

What if I'm overtaken
What if I never make it
What if no one's there?
Will you hear my prayer?

When you take that first step
Into the unknown
You know that He won't let you go

 So what are you waiting for?
What do you have to lose?
Your insecurities try to halt you
 You know you're made for more
So don't be afraid to move
Your faith is all
It takes and you can
Walk on the water too

 So get out
And let
Your fear fall to the ground
No time to waste
Don't wait
Don't you turn around and miss out
Everything you were made for
I know you're not sure
So you play it safe
Try to run away

 If you take that first step
Into the unknown
He won't let you go

 (chorus)


Bridge:
(step out)
Even when a storm hits
(step out)
Even when you're broken
(step out)
Even when your heart is telling you telling you to give up
(step out)
When your hope is stolen
(step out)
You can't see where you're going
You don't have to be afraid

 So what are you waiting,
What are you waiting for?

 So what are you waiting for?
What do you have to lose?
Your insecurities try to halt you

 You know you're made for more
So don't be afraid to move
Your faith is all
It takes and you can
Walk on the water...
Walk on the water too.

All the news that's pit to frint...

I have a couple of updates to let you all know about… first of all, the Healthy Loser Gal blog has received a few neat awards recently! I’m always grinning ear-to-ear when I see someone has thought enough of the blog to bestow a blog award. Thank you!! I’m like a little kid when it comes to winning things or being give presents, I nearly burst with glee!

Thanks to my Canadian friend at Finding My Weigh who awarded me with not one, but two blog awards.  She’s a great writer and looking to lose weight before going back to work after her maternity leave! (Boy, do I remember THAT feeling!)


For the "One Lovely Blog Award" you need to:
* Thank & link to the person that gave you the award.
* Pass this award on to 15 fantastic bloggers you’ve recently discovered.
* Contact said Blogs and let them know they’ve won

For the "Beautiful Blogger" award you need to:

* Thank & link to the person that gave you the award.

* Pass this award on to 15 fantastic bloggers you’ve recently discovered.
* Contact said Blogs and let them know they’ve won.
* State 7 things about yourself.

I am taking the easy way out on the stating seven things about myself and linking back to TEN THINGS about me from a previous post! :)


I'm also the happy recipient of the "Creative Writer" Blogger Award, thanks to Michelle at A Healthier Me.

The rules of the "Creative Writer" Blogger Award are:

1. Thank the person who gave this to you.
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3. Link to the person who nominated you.
4. Tell up to six outrageous lies about yourself, and at least one outrageous truth.
5. Nominate seven "Creative Writers" who might have fun coming up with outrageous lies.
6. Post links to the seven blogs you nominate.
7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know you nominated them.

Six Outrageous Lies & One Outrageous Truth about Me:

1. I had breast implants when I was a freshman in college.

2. President Jimmy Carter and my father went deep sea fishing together.

3. While visiting Finland, I met the then-President of Russia, Mikhail Gorbachev.

4. I once swam the width of an Adirondack mountain lake.

5. My teeth were knocked out in a field hockey accident & I have worn dentures since.

6. I raised chinchillas to earn extra money to help support my son & myself.

7. I am a sharp shooter at the local pistol range & own three small caliber hand guns.

Seven nominated bloggers for the "Creative Writing" Blogger Award:

1. Shannon at Superwoman Spirit : http://www.superwomanspiritblog.com/
2. Fiona at Becoming the Best Me: http://fiona-becomingthebestme.blogspot.com/
3. My pal, Kyra, at A Foodie Gets Fit:  http://kyratx-afoodiegetsfit.blogspot.com/
4. Lil Miss D at 105 in 365:  http://105in365.blogspot.com/
5. Kat at Kat's Adventures in Dietland: http://katdoesdiets.blogspot.com/
6. Patty at A Work in Progress: http://awip.blogspot.com/
7. Bubbly & Fun Diz at Death By Calories: http://mybattlewithbulge.blogspot.com/

How SMART are your goals?

So my vacation is over and I had a great time visiting my sister in Florida.  We hadn't seen one another in a year and a half so it was long overdue.  I'm proud to say I stayed completely on plan - even counted calories on St. Patrick's Day for Guinness (I don't like it but feel obligated to drink it on St. Patrick's Day as I am, afterall, of Irish descent!) and corn beef & cabbage & bangers & mash.  I made wise, thought-out choices of airport food and even made certain I was online on Tuesday night for my Vtrim class.  And I'm soooo glad I made time for the class as it was all about one of my favorite things in the world this past year:  Making Goals!

Not just any goals...

Sure, my goal a year ago was to lose 100 lbs. but - in all honesty - that wasn't a very realistic goal as I had no idea how I was going to do it nor was I a contestant on The Biggest Loser! *grin*  Losing 60 pounds in a year was much more attainable for me but I would have been happy with 50 pounds,  honestly, as in June I was stagnant at 35!  It was only then that I started breaking down my goal(s) into 5 pounds lost at a time... THEN it began to work! Then I was making smart goals!

Now, with the help of the Vtrim classes and exercising at the YMCA, I'm learning what is a SMART goal for me now.  This week coming up, for instance, I committed to myself and my fellow classmates that I would have the following goal:

I will walk (specific) for a mile (measurable & achievable) on Saturday, Sunday, and Tuesday (time limited) and then try something new for exercise that I haven't done before for 30 mins on Thursday (realistic). 

Now, for many of you, that goal may seem easy-peasy, huh?  But - for me - it is achievable and just enough out of my comfort zone to make it a true goal.  I'm not setting myself up for failure.  I've already walked the Saturday and Sunday portion of the goal and know I can get to the YMCA at lunch hour on Tuesday.  The Thursday part I'm not sure of what I'll do... but I'm going to do it!  

I learned in the online class that we need to ask ourselves "what hurdles do I need to overcome to lose weight?” and then use the smart guidelines to set 1-2 goals a week to help get over those weightloss hurdles. It makes such sense when it is pared down into smaller, achievable goals and I, personally, like writing the goals on my calendar and checking them off when they're completed!!

Between Friday and today, I have walked six miles.  SIX MILES!  That is a record for me over a weekend except when I did the five mile walk back in the fall, but that was with a few stops along the way.  This was really power waking (well... a 17-20 minute mile is power walking for this gal!) and I walked with a determined gait!  I built my first ever play list for my iPod and hit the pavement and LOVED IT!  And I felt incredible... empowered... thankful... full of LIFE! :)

This morning I got up (sore as sore can be because of my second meeting with my trainer yesterday- this week we did not continue assessing!!) and got on the scale and I am at the lowest weight I have been in about 8 years!  I pushed the scale around the bathroom floor... and every place I stepped on it, I was at the same weight.  It wasn't a fluke... I'm DOING this! :)

BRING IT ON WORLD, YEAR TWO OF MY JOURNEY HAS JUST STARTED & I'VE GOT YOUR NUMBER!

More tomorrow night on my first real encounter with personal training!  Parker (my trainer at the YMCA) said "remember this day, Jan, because in a month you will look back and see how very far you've come". 

One year later... look at the difference!

One year ago I blogged that it was time for me to 'become accountable to myself'! Exactly a year ago I wrote:

"I am worth the effort" I say to myself over and over inside my mind. "I am worth it... I can do this... I *WILL* do this...", I repeat in mantra-like reply. But I haven't been 'doing this' and I continue to start and then stop... self-sabotaging. I mean, what the heck AM I doing? I am closer to 300 lbs. than 200 lbs. And I should not even be near to 200 lbs. But here I am. That's the reality.

That's no longer my reality.  I've gone through a full year of working toward being the Healthy Loser Gal I want to become... and I'm soooo much healthier now than I was a year ago when even walking up a flight of stairs would have winded me.  I'll write much more later tonight but - for now - I wanted to post a few photos of "Then" and "Now" (not Before and After... kind of Before and Half-way There...). 

Thank you, my friends, for all your encouragement!  I am so grateful for your friendly tweets - your honesty in your own ups & downs so I could be honest in return when I felt awful and fell off my plan in a big, bad, dramatic way. lol I *know* I would not be 60+ pounds lighter today if I hadn't connected with all of you here while I've poured out my heart (along with pouring the Pepsi down the drain!) and accomplished what I have.  Thank you!!

And... you know what?  Damn, I'm proud of myself today! *grin* And here's the really cool thing - if *I* can do this... YOU can do this!

Dream.

Believe.

Work.

Achieve.

Big hugs from me to you~
HealthyLoserGal / Jan

I Have Great Knees.

I have great knees.  My trainer told me so. *grin*  You read that right - my "trainer"... as in "exercise trainer" as in... I'm exercising!  (Did I just hear someone faint out there? lol)  My trainer (LOVE saying that!), Parker, is pictured here at the YMCA on Saturday with me when he was doing my assessment (note the clipboard!).  The knee comment was in relation to getting up and down about a dozen times from a seated position without having my knees wobble in or outward.  "Great knees", he said.  I looked at him puzzled... "What?" and then he explained about the non-wobble of my knees.  Hey! It's something good about my out-of-shape body - I'm taking it! :)  More about Parker and my first visit to the YMCA (that was more than swimming) in a moment...

I am really, REALLY enjoying the Vtrim classes I am in every Tuesday night online and the amount of information I am learning that I never, ever knew is just amazing to me!  How could I be more than 30 years old *insert sweet smile here, please* and not know simple things like 3500 calories = 1 lb.  So, if you want to lose one pound, you need to rid your diet of 3500 calories in one way or another - through less calories or more exercise.  How could I live this long and not have known that whether you're walking a mile or running a mile, you're going to lose the same amount of calories... 100.  I always assumed walking faster meant burning more calories... it doesn't!  You just get to that mile marker faster.  Have you guys all known this and I'm the only one who didn't? lol

So the first week with Vtrim was really just learning how to journal.  You write down everything you eat and how you're feeling... I'm good at journaling having been on Weight Watchers.  But the AMAZING thing with Vtrim is that I'm not just counting "points" blindly, the Vtrim journal counts up the calories and the FAT GRAMS!  No wonder I was stalled losing... you should see the regular fat intake I was downing daily.  I was horrified!  Here on the left is an example of my journal on Vtrim which shows the exercise on Saturday.  Did you know that statistics prove that if you journal you're more likely to lose weight and keep it off?  True.  I think it is all about 'consciously eating' vs 'mindless eating' which I did for years.  I also called it 'grazing'.  "Oh, that looks good... ... and so does that... ... well, I can't get this everyday, I should eat this while I have the opportunity!"  Hello?  Can you see why I started this journey with 100 pounds to lose?

The next week's lesson with the online Vtrim class (an hour class once a week) was on "Energy In: Calories".  The facilitator for my class, Stuart, gave us the formula to figure our how many calories we need on a daily basis to maintain our weight (ack!) and how many we need if we want to lose just one pound a week.  Remember the one pound = 3500 calories so divided that by seven days and you need to cut out 500 calories from your diet if you plan to get no exercise.  I was so intrigued by all of this... why hadn't I heard it before?  No offense against Weight Watchers, but they never taught these simple basics in meetings & really ought to be. One check in favor of Vtrim! : )

Last night's class was about "Energy Out: Exercise" and taught me the info about whether you're walking or running, you're still going to burn 100 calories in one mile!  I was thrilled to learn, too, that getting an hour's worth of exercise in over the course of the day is just as effective as getting it all at once.  I can really easily accomplish three 20 minute walks in one day... one 60 minute walk is much more difficult.  I know other friends who are in the same boat.  This coming week - even though I'll be on vacation in Florida for the week - I'll be walking 2 and a half miles.  I'll probably be doing much more than that - but my assigned walking for the week is certainly attainable!  All good!

I don't know why but I was kind of dreading and anxiously excited about my first training class at the Y! I lucked out on a trainer - Parker is so kind and so non-judgmental and encouraging.  I said to him at one point when I couldn't do an exercise easily "I'm sorry!".  He stopped us, looked squarely at me and said "Why are you sorry?!"  I wanted to blurt out "for being fat and out of shape" but before I could he added, "You have nothing to be sorry for... you're doing GREAT!".  *beam*  (And I'm teared up writing this as this is SUCH a huge obstacle for me to overcome.)  When we first met and were beginning the assessment, Parker was asking me all kinds of questions about my background... "Did you participate in any sports in college?".  I blinked.  It seemed like a million years ago but the answer was 'yes'.  I had a scholarship for Field Hockey.  I was an athlete!  How did I get to who I am today where I can't even remember that?

My heart rate is quirky - even though I've never had heart problems.  What we found out on Saturday is that it spikes upward easily... so I'm only allowed to exercise right now while I'm wearing a Heart Rate Monitor (HRM) or have the program that Parker customized for me on a usb drive plugged into the treadmill at the Y.  This way I'm staying in my target heart rate (all new to me!!) and I'm accountable and he can keep an eye on me when he's not with me - very tricky! lol

Nine days from today is my year anniversary of beginning this journey.  I leave on Saturday to visit my sister in Florida and am going to be going to my see my Red Sox in a spring training game - I'm so psyched!!! :)  I'll celebrate St. Pat's in Florida with my sister and then will fly back.  I plan to spend the day of the 19th celebrating my one year anniversary either outside if it is nice or inside at the YMCA if it isn't.

Soon to be overheard at the YMCA:

    "Who's that exercising over there?" 

    "Oh, that's just Healthy Loser Gal... she's here all the time!"

*grin*  Thanks for your support friends - I know I wouldn't be this far along this journey without you!!

Headstrong Determination!

I don't know about for you, but for ME, the saying above really hit home!  I do have HEADSTRONG determination when I put my mind to it.

Some people in my past have criticized me for being 'headstrong' and 'stubborn'... well, guess what?  I think I've finally found a reason to be proud of it!  It is going to help me lose the next 50 lbs. and get my backside to the YMCA and begin exercising.  My Vtrim facilitator, Stuart, wrote those words to me in an email this week... "Some times it just takes some headstrong determination and I know you can do this!"  He had no idea how much those words would impact me. (I've since told him.)  They changed me... pushed me to the front of the crowd...

I *am* going to do this!
I *am* going to rock the next 11 weeks with Vtrim and the Y!
I *am* going to reach my goal weight this summer and...
I *am* going to be a healthier, better version of myself.

Negative thinking, fear of failure, old 'tapes' in my head... do you think you can stop me!? Just try! You're going to be hugely disappointed.

Yeah, baby... it's Watch Out World multiplied by Irish will and German stubborness. 

Bring it on! :) 

What the HELL is wrong with me?!?!

I'm food binging... well, I don't know the actual meaning of that term...but I am ingesting massive quantities of
food in the last three days at meals!!

Shall we review?  Let's see... Tuesday... cheese & mushroom omelet (this is my normal Tuesday b'fast so that wasn't so bad)... lunch - cream of tomato soup and 1/2 turkey sandwich on whole wheat with lettuce and mayo - again - not so bad... oh, and chocolate 2% milk and an apple & cheese string for snack... Tuesday night .... two cheeseburgers on white bread buns... cauliflower mash ... TWO cheeseburgers? Really??  Wednesday morning I started all over again... something I don't even usually ever eat!  Sesame seed bagel w/fried egg and american cheese slice!  What??!! (I logged it on Vtrim...)  Lunch = salmon and broccoli = no problem... can of coke ( I *never* drink coke!!)... and now - get this - dinner... small pizza with veggies - I ate what probably would be 3 large pieces of pizza.  Glass of white wine.  And then... let's add about six Annie's cinnamon cookies at ...mmm.. maybe 9pm?  At this point, I knew I was in trouble!  Not only isn't that "on my food plan", I broke my Lent doing that! Double whammy! Oh! And a spoonful of my son's cookie dough ice cream straight out of the carton!!!  Writing it out it doesn't sound horrible - but it IS horrible!! This is a lot more food than I normally eat and - what is worse - I ate the cheeseburgers and the pizza without any thought of measurement.  Okay - very little thought - I did order 'veggie pizza' afterall.  But.. c'mon? Really??

What the hell is wrong with me?  I can only think that it has some sort of psychological relationship with my starting this new program.  Hello!?!?  I *know* I want to lose this weight... I *KNOW* I shouldn't be eating enormous portions... I *KNOW* I should not have ordered a small pizza last night for dinner... but that doesn't seem to be stopping me. 

I think I've stopped now.  Because I feel ill.  This morning I only had a bagel and light cream cheese for breakfast.  Still - even that - is more than usual for me.  Normally I would have eaten 1/2 the bagel with the light cream cheese.  I haven't had my norm breakfast of yogurt and fruit in a week. 

Man, I guess I need this Vtrim program a lot more than I even realized.  Just thinking about changing my behaviors or delving into the 'why's of why I eat is sending me into a downward spiral.  NOT GOOD!  I'm disgusted by myself.  Truly.  I want to slap myself up side the head and say "what the hell are you doing!?!".

I think I've just done it... the slap upside the head, I mean.  I'm not a happy camper with myself right now.  Time to review my reasons for losing weight - getting healthy.  Time to 'get with the program'.

Thanks for listening to my totally unedited brain dump!

Signed,
Debbie Downer

On Your MARK... Get SET.... GO!!!!

If you read the Healthy Loser Gal blog regularly, you'll know I'm a believer in the Law Of Attraction and how if you expect good things to happen to you, they will show up in your life if you truly believe in that outcome.  Time and again in this last year I have had proof in my own life that this is true.  Well, guess what?  It's happened AGAIN! :)

Ten days ago I began to rededicate myself to my weight loss after having been sick for nearly a month.  Friends here and on Twitter joined me in what I dubbed "Watch Out World" and set a challenge to stick to goals of exercise and food plan through March 19th which marks my own one year anniversary of when I started my weight loss journey.  With WOW I felt rejuvenated in my weight loss and ready to tackle this journey all over again when - out of the blue - I received an email from a Twitter follower who asked me if I would be interested in trying a behavioral approach to weight loss that was developed at the University of Vermont. I replied to her I would be happy to check it out and would get back to her within a day.

Within 24 hours of that email came a direct message on Twitter from the Boston YMCA asking me if I had heard of the Vtrim program... I had... only 24 hours before.  : )  Hello LOA in action for my weight loss goals! Could it be any clearer?! : )

I am sooooo excited to tell you all that for the next 12 weeks, Vtrim has offered me their online behavior based weight loss program through the YMCA of Boston for free!  Wooohoooooo!! And what is more, because it is being offered through the YMCA, I'll be receiving three trainer sessions included to get me off to the right start with the exercise component of the program!  Check out the Vtrim (pronounced V-trim) program and the program through the YMCA here at http://www.uvm.edu/vtrim/

I AM SOO PSYCHED!! :) To say that I am excited about this program is an understatement.  First of all, everyone I have spoken to at both Vtrim and the Boston YMCA are extraordinarily nice and caring people.  When I asked about blogging through the next 12 weeks, they all asked me to be completely honest with how the program works for me throughout and they all were as excited about my goals as I am!

This morning I spent a long time going over the Vtrim site as every Tuesday evening I'll be involved in an hour long online class in a group "chat room" format.  The participants and I will have a weekly assignment which we'll journal about and we'll discuss within the group under the direction of a group facilitator.  The topics differ and address behavior modification, not just calories in vs. calories burned.  Good lord how I need this help!  Maybe this will solve why - when I'm not even hungry - I find myself in the kitchen foraging for food at 9 o'clock on a Wednesday night!!

And you all should see the wealth of information on the Vtrim site.  Amazing! Everything you could possibly want all grouped logically so you can find it easily!  I felt like I was in weight loss and exercise info Nirvana when I was exploring the site this morning - lol.

So, my friends, get ready for these next 12 weeks with me... in three months time I will be setting goals and attaining them with the help of this miraculous offer from the wonderful folks at Vtrim and the Boston YMCA.  Part of me is a little bit anxious 'cause I'm being so open about this... what if I don't succeed?  But a bigger voice within me is saying, "you are going to succeed and have a ball doing it!".  By the time spring rolls around I should be a much healthier and happier loser gal, and isn't that what this journey is all about? *grin*

Thanks for your support and encouragement, my friends. "Watch Out world" continues and this time... with Vtrim and the YMCA's help! :) 

On my mark, get set.................. GO!

Doing the happy dance!

Don't these pasta sauces, bruschetta and salad dressings look good?!  And they ARE good! Made with all natural locally-grown Ohio ingredients and a touch of wine... Vino de Milo products are oh-so-delicious!

I was the lucky second place winner of their recent recipe contest and received the products pictured here from them as my prize!  I was doing a little happy dance unpacking them on Tuesday night! I can tell you that I have plans on Saturday night for the Artichoke Garlic bruschetta! : )

Big thanks to Kim at Vino de Milo's for being an encouragement to me on my HealthyLoserGal journey... these delicious, low cal, and nutritious gifts from the Vino de Milo kitchen will be soooo savoured! ; )

Follow these guys on Twitter @VinoDeMilo or on Facebook, too, as they will often post really great recipes!

Now... who is gonna tell me that the Law Of Attraction doesn't work, hmmm?  *grin*

A Happy 101 Award... fun! :)

I love being referred to as a "happy person".  That, alone, can make me happy! *grin*  It is true.  So when my blogging friend, Ellen, of Weighting Around passed along the Happy 101 Award to me... well... it made me happy!  Ellen is a fun person and honest and real... her blog is a lot like mine in that we're not terribly strict in what we write about - it is whatever the spirit moves us to blog on.  She has some great recipes, too, so please do check out her Weighting Around blog! Thanks, Ellen, for the Happy 101 Award! :)

Here are the instructions:

1.Copy the image and display it on your blog.
2.List 10 things that make you happy.
3.Try to do at least one of them today.
4.Pass on the award to 10 bloggers who brighten your day

Ten Things That Make Me Happy:
This will be hard 'cause I know myself and know that there are soooo many things that make me happy.  I'm likely to wake up in the middle of the night and think to  myself "oh! I should edit that blog post... this makes me REALLY happy..." lol  But... as of right now... the ten things that immediately pop into my head that make me happy are:

1.  My son.  He is my one and only. He's nearly 24 now and at the point in his life where he's exploring all the options of life.  I love that he is a happy person, too, and will often kind of hop with glee when we're discussing something that excites him.  He'd kill me for saying that, of course, but ... I'm grinning ear to ear thinking of how he makes me happy.
2. Knowing that God "has my back" makes me happy and makes me feel peaceful.  I've gone through some pretty rough patches in my life... I've been a single Mom for 20 years now... I've faced some major illness... two which could have killed me... I've lost my job when I had no other income... and through it all, I knew I would be fine.  I know in my heart that nothing is going to 'best me' as God is my strength and only asks me to trust Him.  And I do. :)

3. Books!  I love to learn new things and am like a sponge when I read books.  I seep up all the info from people who are experts, travel logs, history lessons, optimists, collectors, great cooks, poets, illustrators, wonderful health mentors... I am happiest when I am in the sun, in the summer, a book in my lap, my mind free to lose itself in the book I'm reading.  Heaven! :)
4. Laughter.  Who can't love a person with a good laugh?!  It always makes me happy to hear someone really truly laugh... old or young... a really heartfelt laugh makes me happy! 

5. Losing weight.  I'm pretty focused on my health and weight right now... it makes me happy that I have finally found the fortitude to lose weight and that I am actually healthy.  Getting healthier every single day... THAT makes me happy.  Really happy.
6. Friends makes me happy.  And if you're reading this blog, you are considered one of those friends who make me happy.  You're the people I am on this incredible journey with - we're honest and open with one another - some of us have met in real life, many of us have not, but you are really good friends to me and seeing your words, reading your blogs and tweets and posts on Weight Watchers, all those tiny bits of outpouring of who you are - that makes me happy! Thanks for sharing you!
7. Random acts of kindess.  You know when you see someone reach down and stop someone to call them back and give them the leather glove they dropped that the person didn't know they'd dropped and then you watch and they smile at each other?  Those little acts sometimes make me happy to the point of getting teary eyed.  I try to be of help to others where and when I can, I have - as a result - experienced SUCH kindness from strangers... kindness makes me happy.

8. Letters in the mail from friends and writing to them in turn.  It may be a lost art but I still have a few friends whom I have been life-long friends with, and we write real letters.  I save every one.  I open my mailbox with great anticipation and when one is there, instantly I am happy.
9. Traditions.  I love love love traditions.  I like breaking the wishbone at Thanksgiving and buying a new broom at New Year's.  I like looking for the 1st robin in the Spring and get excited for opening day at Fenway.  Wearing red at Valentine's and orange around Halloween... all these things... they make me happy!

10. Baseball.  I just sat here for 10  minutes and tried to decide whether to list "travel to Ireland" or "baseball" as my last item of this list.  I do really love Ireland and love to travel... I love exploring 'cause I am curious by nature and love to learn about new lands... but BASEBALL.  Darnitall... I really do love baseball.  It makes me happy to see a home run, it makes me happy to read the stats and follow the teams, to know the historical references, to remember collecting baseball cards and trading them with friends (I was a tomboy!), to go to games with my Dad and now with my son.  Baseball makes me happy.  It always has.  I would definitely be waking up in the middle of the night if I didn't add it to this list! *grin*

So there you go, my friends... really a lot more than you'd ever want to know about my happiness triggers.  I could go on and on... I truly could and I realize that I am blessed in so many ways because I have to edit down my list and not scratch my head trying to think of ten things!  (That makes me happy, too!)

Now I get to pass along this award to blogging friends and I'm going to try to break up the list with new bloggers and friends who have an active blog following!  Enjoy the award, gals! : )

A Foodie Gets Fit ~ my friend Kyra, a displaced New Englander in Texas @KyraTx
A Year in the Life, One Picture At A Time - Izabella's new blog
Cunning Mom Christine's weight loss journey
Fighting the Fat: Another War Story -  Diz is the best - just love her & her great blog! :)
I Lost Another Me  Charity's #WeightWatcher journey - she's doing great!
The Big Girl Blog such an inspiring, fun blog... you've probably gotten 1,000 awards; here is another ; )
The Healthie Foodie Ashley's great recipes & blog
Fit this, girl! My pal Mary who always has something new & interesting posted on her blog!
Lady In Weighting - love Alice~ great blogging friend who can hold a plank for nearly 3 mins when I can barely get into the position w/out falling!

Watch Out World! I'm BACK!

I am back... no, not little quiet "i'm back"... I am B A C K!!! With a vengeance... with a goal... with determination... with COMMITMENT!

I have been oh-so-sick for the last four weeks so the month of January really "went to hell in a handbasket" (have no idea what that saying means but my Dad used to say it and it makes me grin to reference it here!) as far as being on my Weight Watchers plan or getting any exercise.  I didn't get to the YMCA once... I didn't figure out my new WiiFit Plus at all!
Seems I had this bacterial infection called "cellulitis" which meant that my foot and toe hurt so badly I couldn't put any weight on it or even lay a bed sheet across my toe without really horrid pain. Pretty serious stuff. Long story short - my doctor thought, at first, it was gout... treated me for gout (old man's disease, hello?!?) and it wasn't getting better so he sent me to a specialist. Between the time my doctor saw me and the specialist saw me my whole foot and up to my knee was enflamed swollen and full of yucky stuff (HLG medical term! *grin*). Off to the Emergency Room... more antibiotics by IV in three days than most people could survive, then onto oral doses of antibiotics and then I come down with thee worst sinus infection known to man.  (Well, known to Jan, in my particular case!)  Could not breathe thru my nose... so clogged up that I could only hear in one of my ears... so onto steroids/prednisone for this.  Ahhhh the joys of everything hitting at once!  FINALLY... now a month later, I'm still on the antibiotics and the prednisone but I can step 95% onto my foot and wear regular shoes and heels again. Okay, the heels are painful but then they always kind of are! 

I had been feeling 'down in the dumps'.  That's not like me!  I'm usually a really upbeat, optimistic person but this got me grumpy.  I was exhausted. 

And then - suddenly - over the weekend... I was much better.  I cleaned house.  I did laundry.  I cooked and went to the grocery store... I went out to eat with my son.  All of the sudden... I was BACK!  Big letters - bold type - B A C K!  And I was "me" again! :)

So last night I decided to rededicate myself to this journey I'm on as I've lost a full month. I'd done amazingly well over the holidays but this past month was just gone forever.  Now I am going to make up for it.

On March 19th, 2009 I started - commited to - this weight loss journey I am on.  I took measurements, I prayed about it, I made a commitment to myself to not back down and - once and for all - get to my healthy weight, get fit and start living life with no regrets!  I've lost over 60 lbs. to date.  And with March 19th only FIVE and A HALF WEEKS AWAY... I am on a NO EXCUSES for 5 1/2 weeks mission!  I am writing down every bite, lick, sip and taste of food that passes my lips!  I am drinking water.  I am exercising AT LEAST four times every week these next five weeks even if for only 30 minutes of exercise a day.  And NO darn excuses.  Yes, I'll probably have some asthma issues... yes, it will probably be "ToM" in there a few times... yes, it may be inconvenient or I may oversleep or I may want to go out or I may .... fill in the blank... but I HAVE COMMITED TO THIS... so

I'm going to be using #hlgWoW on Twitter to report my progress.  I would LOVE for you guys to join me these next weeks and report how you're doing with:

1. Decide on a food plan that is right for you and stick to it completely. I like Weight Watchers 'cause it is flexible enough for my non-concrete schedule. Journal if you can... it always helps me to write everything down.

2. Exercise.  Up to you how many times a day or a week.  But move.  It is the middle of the winter here and we need to move our booties when the temps outside tempt us not to.  I'm commiting to 4x of exercise a week.  I'll be doing WiiFit and Leslie Sansone's Walk Away the Pounds dvds at home and - this is not a commitment but a 'hope' - I hope to get out to the YMCA and use the membership I pay good money for.

3. Be positive!  This is key.  Know in your mind you can do this... know that 5 1/2 weeks will go by in the blink of an eye and you'll be so darn proud of yourself on March 19th you will KNOW you can do it all over again if you want to.

4. No excuses!  This is key, too!  I am the very best of excuse givers, or I used to be. A year ago I sure was a great excuse giver.  But guess who I was letting down?  Myself. I refuse to let myself down any longer.  No excuses!

Between today and March 19th I am invincible... I am commited... I am dedicated!  And my friends, I would LOVE LOVE LOVE for you to come along on this short little 5 1/2 week journey with me. 

I know we can rock this... Watch out World!!!

The Proof is in the Pictures...

I keep forgetting to post this photo of me at Christmas time this year vs. Christmas time a year ago! :)

Mm-Mm-Good! ZERO Points Soup!

Remember the old Campbell Soup commercial jingle? Mm mm good... mm mm good... that's what Campbell Soups are... Mm Mm Good!  Well, I was singing that on Sunday in my own kitchen when I tasted the delicious Weight Watchers O points soup I made.  The recipe is from this past week's flyer (reminds me of Weekly Readers in grade school) which is a new benefit that 2010 brings to WW meetings.  We used to occasionally get recipes, but now can look forward to them every week whether or not we're subscribed to the online WW program.  I happen to be a e-tools subscriber so am fortunate to have all the WW recipes literally at my fingertips. :)

January in New England is historically our coldest month of the year so SOUP seems like the perfect anecdote to the temps outside when you rush in the door after work.  And a ZERO POINTS soup is right up my alley 'cause I can bring it to work in a glass jar and heat it up in the microwave for an afternoon snack! Plus it adds in four servings of daily vegetables if you have two cups of the soup.  All good! : )

I changed up the recipe a little bit.  I didn't add spinach... I used crushed tomatoes... I omitted the oregano and added a little bit of chipotle... instead of two stalks of celery and two carrots, I used three of each.  And - it was really really good! My son loved it, too, and he's a hard sell sometimes! : )

I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did!

Bon appétit! ; )

The JOY of Laughter...

We all have times when we feel a little blue, a little ‘down in the dumps’, a little less joyful than we’d like to feel, right? Above and beyond those fleeting feelings, the holidays seem to trigger depression for many people for a myriad of reasons.


Did you know that the physical act of laughing can reduce stress? It is true! In fact, laughter has been proven to act as a healing force for major diseases such as cancer… just check out the story of Norman Cousins who truly laughed his way from critical illness to a long, pain-free life. His book, Anatomy of an Illness, chronicles his findings, but the long and short of it is that he was given a chance of living of 1 to 500 with debilitating pain. He refused to believe the diagnosis.


Norman Cousins began to watch old comedies – movies like the Marx Brothers and old tv shows like Candid Camera, anything that would make him feel good and laugh - - and the change his body experienced by the endorphins being released from laughter changed his whole chemical make up and he lived to be an old man – pain free. (That was a really short retelling of my understanding of Norman Cousins’ story… he was a remarkable man with such incredible insights on what is worth fretting over and what it is to live life fully… please do check out his story.)

But back to the holidays and how it makes me sad to think that there are folks who get depressed at this magical time of the year…

The Mayo Clinic lists the reason for holiday depression as this:

Their tips for dealing with this stress are here.

The holiday season, which begins for most Americans with Thanksgiving and continues through New Year's Day, often brings unwelcome guests — stress and depression. And it's no wonder. In an effort to pull off a perfect holiday, you might find yourself facing a dizzying array of demands — parties, shopping, baking, cleaning and entertaining, to name a few. So much for peace and joy, right?

Mental Health America has this take on holiday stress:

Many factors can cause the “holiday blues”: stress, fatigue, unrealistic expectations, over-commercialization, financial constraints, and the inability to be with one’s family and friends. The demands of shopping, parties, family reunions and house guests also contribute to feelings of tension. People may also develop other stress responses such as headaches, excessive drinking, over-eating and difficulty sleeping. Even more people experience post-holiday let down after January 1. This can result from disappointments during the preceding months compounded by the excess fatigue and stress.

So….
I’ve decided that the best way to beat the holiday blues for those of you who may suffer this malady is to hunker down with a good UPLIFTING or FUNNY movie to watch!
I’ve been asking Twitter friends about their favorite movies and the list of what we’ve come up with is below.

If you’re feeling blue, rent one or two or twelve of these movies... and start your own New Year’s tradition... a tradition of feeling happy and good!

Our List of Uplifting and Fun Movies:

@KyraTx Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension

@AKSRichi Rudy

@20to8in12 Stardust ,The Princess Bride, Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas

@HitsandMisses Elf with Will Ferrell
@Hollafoodzone French Kiss

@kjhwill72 The Princess Bride (see above)
@BigGirlEats League of Their Own
@FabFatties August Rush (and Rudy)
@ElizabethEv Waking Ned Devine and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
@Rewka The Sound of Music and Popeye (with Robin Williams) @HealthyGirlTips The Mighty Ducks
@NKCoverGrrl Leaving Normal
@AmyDabbs The Blind Side (currently in theatres)
@MarvelousMartha Facing The Giants
@bukubuffalo Love Actually and The Holiday
@sarahlashua Bridgette Jones Diary and The Holiday
@bluearkyprimite The Proposal!!!
@brittnycantero ELF! with Will Ferrell. handsdown!!! (see above)
@ginastark Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and All of Me
@GulfCoastArea Shrek the Halls
@lorenita327 The Hangover
@samsgirl02 Nothing to Lose and Just Like Heaven 
@CraftsWeekly Father of the Bride and Father of the Bride Part II HLG add: The original Father of the Bride w/Spencer Tracy and Elizabeth Taylor
I lost who tweeted these...  Finding Neverland  and Norma Rae


My personal favorites:

It’s a Wonderful Life
Finding Forrester
What About Bob
Under The Tuscan Sun
Gigi
Slap Shot
When Harry Met Sally
Bridget Jones’ Diary
Chariots of Fire
Shirley Valentine
The Muppet Movie (@MollysMama28 agrees!)
Shawshank Redemption
Mr. Holland’s Opus
African Queen
Mary Poppins
Harvey
Meet Me in St. Louis
The Odd Couple 
Heaven Can Wait
Young Frankenstein
Ghost Busters
Annie Hall

I hope your holidays are joyful and full of laughter!

Peace and love and JOY to all of us in 2010~

Jan/HealthyLoserGal