Archive for October, 2009

First and foremost (and completely off the topic that I’m writing about today…) I know I promised a pictoral update from the Rachael Ray Show, but I got a little carried away on the Facebook love I was getting last night!! I have so many great friends and family — and I just have to thank them again for all of the love and support they have given me over the past few years during my weight loss journey — and even before that. When I was overweight – they loved me just as they do now, and I think that’s what makes everyone so special and why I am still so very close to my entire immediate & extended family.

Anyway… now on to what my mind has been thinking about the last couple of days…

As you know, when you go on vacation there seems to be a “gain” factor involved in your journey. Not that you aren’t able to control what you are eating while out — or that you take your own meals along — but there seems to be “splurges” that are enjoyed that you might not do during your everyday life.

For example — and yes I know how bad this is!! — everytime I fly the friendly skies I take along a bag of peanut (or even better Peanut Butter) M&Ms. I know this isn’t healthy for me… and in fact will make my muscles/body hold more water weight… but I enjoy them when I travel.

So this brings me to the idea of changing things up. When I returned from the Dominican Republic and New York (2 trips in less than 2 weeks… and by the way not every flight included the M&M’s rule), I had gained a number of pounds. I really didn’t know how many… it wasn’t good. But you know what, I was ok with that. My trainer however… was NOT. I had gained much more than I “should have”… but I also knew that I had to get back to regular workouts (still working on that one) and back to eating right (so close… almost there on this one!)

Well in the process of eating right, I decided to change things up a bit for the last few days — and I think I’m on to something. While I have heard this before, I’ve never put it into practice. I’ve been eating the VAST majority of my WW points before 3pm. I have been trying to save only about 5 points for dinner. And it seems to be working.

While I wake up in the morning hungry — I don’t go to bed that way. I also don’t go to bed full, which I think is helping my sleep patterns. And that’s the other thing, I think I haven’t been getting enough sleep again, which was making me anxious and gave me a case of the munchies (thank goodness there are NO Wheat Thins left in my house!) So with that… I’ll be getting to bed a wee-bit earlier (because I still want to live my life!) so that the pre-5am wake up calls/alarms/chimes/bells, etc. come a little easier to me to haul myself out of my oh-so-comfortable and warm bed.

So after being back in a “routine” for a week now with working out and eating much better (granted, still not perfect!), I think I am back to (or very close to) my goal weight… which means that I in the last month have only put on about 2-3 pounds with all of this crazy madness going on around me! Not bad!

In case you weren’t one of the hundreds…er, thousands (I’m just guessing here) that watched the Rachael Ray show on October 27, 2009… well, here it is. I think they did a fabulous job with the segment — and am VERY glad about certain things that they left out! (That’s for me to know… and you to find out only if you become a BFF!)

Here is the link where it’s from (courtesy of Rachael Ray Show)

I hope you all enjoy!!

UPDATE: And by the way… I look just as fabulous today at work as what I did on TV yesterday (wearing a dress…not the one from TV, but a different one)! If I had a way to upload a pic I would!

Just wanted to let you all know that another local paper has run a story about me… YAY! I actually like this article soooo much better than the one that ran in the Holland Sentinel yesterday.

Here is the link to the Grand Rapids Press article. I hope you all enjoy it!

The local papers in my area have both talked to me about my weight loss story… and one of them is in print today! I think the article is pretty good too! (I did not have high hopes for this…)

Here is the Holland Sentinel Article… and as soon as I see the other article (for the Grand Rapids Press) — I’ll put it up here for all to read as well!

One year.

365 days.

8,760 hours.

525,600 minutes.

31,536,000 seconds.

That’s how long I’ve been maintaining my weight… and don’t think for even a second of that time that it hasn’t been a choice. Every moment of the way, I had to make choices of what I was going to do… whether good or bad.

A lot has happened to me in these months. Good, encouraging and exciting things that have left me excited to continue in my weight loss journey (like my trainer giving me a follow-up on how much muscle I was actually gaining while working with him!) and then there were the bad, take the steam out of anything in life events that happened — things that during the end of May and all of June left me gaining weight like it was my business.

Through all of this, I have overcome these obstacles… I have jumped through the hoops… I have scaled the walls… and I am still here. I am better for it.

But every step of the way it was a choice. A choice of how I was going to react to certain situations. A choice of what to eat. A choice on how and when to exercise. A choice in everything.

I know that I will continue to face these choices every day, hour, minute, and even second sometimes. But I know one thing right now. I love how I feel about myself. I love how I feel alive. And I love how no one can take this accomplishment away from me.