Just for Lisa!

Howdy, Sis,

Here's the stuff I bought and a description of each. The description follows the item. Price included, plus tax. Enjoy! I had fun shopping and got a few cute things for myself. xoxo C

Kit the kids can put together. 15" tall as the package says. $1.00

This "Noel" hangs by a red ribbon. Not including the ribbon it is about 7" wide, 3.5" tall. $2.00

This "Joy" sits on a surface. Is 6" wide, 4.5" tall. $3.00

Ok, I think this is a salt shaker, but it was a very cute thing to set out, too. 3" at its widest, 4" tall. $1.50

Gold tapers, 10" tall. $2.00

Puffy Christmas tree to sit on table/shelf, 6" at its widest, 11" tall. $3.00

4 ornaments. I bought 4 for myself and am going to string them from a doorway on ribbon. Cute, no? 4.5" diameter, $1.00 each

Set of candles - 1 santa, 1 gingerbread man, 1 snowman. Santa is about 4" tall. $4.50

Cute glittery gift tags. Package of 52, $1.50

1 silly plate, melamine, regular size, $1.00. Note the 4 characters on this plate (Santa, snowman, penguin). I bought 4 heavy plastic placemats @ $1.00 each. No picture - same motif. Very cute!

One more melamine plate, regular size, $1.00. Maybe 1 for mom, 1 for dad, then the snowman ones (see below) for the kids?? Just wondering. They only had these 2, so I bought them in case you would want them.

Penguin plates, melamine, 9" tall. $1.00 each. I bought 6 just in case you wanted one for each person.

Paper plates (regular size, 2 packs of 10 @ $1.50 each), matching regular size napkins (2 packs of 20 @ $1.00 each)

Wall clings. 1 set $3.00. Not pictured are 2 more sets of clings - various wintery things - trees, snowmen, etc. $1.00 each set.

Surprise!

3 ideas for our blog:

1) To use this like we used to do postcards for prayer requests! They can be even more immediate this way, and we'll have a record of requests and answers.

2) To keep going with our health stuff - eating better, exercising (when we can get it in!)

3) To give each other encouragement, ideas, and keep each other accountable on house goals. 

Let's not give up! Love you, C

Tasty Challenge

Hi dear friend! I am reminded in our fun conversation how much I miss you! Too much. It's almost unbearable that we don't get to hang out. Anyway, thank you so much for encouraging me to go to the Indian buffet. I was brave and sampled every dish! The flavors were popping in my mouth and extremely satisfying. Different and appealing. So I just thought to myself in our diet efforts, why don't we only put in our mouths for the next week or so what is REALLY appealing to us. Like flavorful foods, or the sweetest fruit. What I'm getting at (for me at least) is eliminating the mindless munching that does nothing to satisfy hunger or taste buds. I do so much of that throughout the day, that I might as well be eating cardboard. Also, I continue eating even after the inital food has lost it's interest and appeal to me. Could my body be telling me to back off, I'm full, eat a little less? What do you think? love you!

Saturday afternoon

Ok, so I didn't exactly write down everything I ate, but I meant to!! I'll try again this coming week. I did do something amazing today, though. Ready? Hold your breath...

...I walked for almost 1 1/4 hours - 4.4 miles!!! I could hardly believe it. At the beginning of the walk my right knee hurt, my plantar faciitis hurt (left foot), even my Morton's neuroma on the bottom of my right foot hurt. I kept going, though, and they all sort of dissipated. Well, my knee still hurt some, and I had to walk a little gingerly, but I did it. 

A friend and I are going to walk the Boulder Boulder on Memorial day. It is a 10k, and most people run, but we're going to walk. You just have to be able to do it in under 2 hours. After today's walk, I'm certain I can do that!

I was so excited. I'll have to see how my ailments feel tonight and tomorrow, but at least now I know I am physically able. Tim told me I was, and he was right. This has also given me renewed motivation to get in better shape before that event. If I walk a couple of times a week, that will help a lot. If I get on my bike and ride some, too - even better! If I say "no!" to French fries for a week, I'll really be on my way! I think I'm feeling better today. 

If I can walk for over an hour, maybe this weight loss thing can really be done after all!

Monday's food (hold your breath)

Can I make excuses? Ok, so my head basically exploded off my neck, and I seemed to lose all control!! To make that worse, I had to drive around trying to get Phil's laptop to connect to WiFi I knew was there so I could e-file my taxes. I got the Carl's Jr. while doing that. Needless to say, I gave up on the taxes. Tim will just have to do it today. I'll eat better today...

b'fast

1 pc bread w/ butter

1 1/2 c. milk with Ovaltine

lunch

part of Carl's Jr. taco salad

part of Carl's Jr. grilled chicken sand

1 order of fried zucchini

snack

1 c grapes

dinner

2 guac, veg, lettuce wraps in tortillas

1 big cookie

My Love, my All

I was very moved in a pre Easter service at church today. We were "experiencing the cross", and part of the process was to reflect on our sins (many!) and nail them to the cross before communion and then praise & celebration. So one of my big ones, the biggest I'd say, is gluttony and I believe it has contributed so much to my weight gain. During the praise time, they played the song Wonderous Cross, and the final lines of the song SCREAMED out at me (don't you love it when that happens?), b/c of what Jesus did on the cross, it "demands my soul, my love, my all". I thought to myself, I gave my soul already. But how shallow and sad that I don't always give my love and my all (or even an effort, come on Julie!) to address the sin that I still allow in my life. I was so moved and inspired! I really hope to remember this as a banner when the Lord got my attention and personalized my sin for me where I could see it, and be ready to repent. Does this make any sense to you? Maybe it was just my day at church....

One day

Yes! I started yesterday with a bowl of cereal, thinking about what I would eat the rest of the day. I wrote it in my food tracker. Ok, so I ate too many cookies at a meeting we attended, and didn't get in quite enough fruit, but I had one good day! I'm totally going to count that as a win! Yeah!!!

Picture This!

Hey! I was just reading my Oprah magazine, and just came across one of the best diet ideas I've ever seen. Take a picture of absolutely EVERYTHING you put in your mouth! It's even worse than journaling, because you have to look at the huge portions and unhealthy choices! One lady in the article said "like I'd want to take a picture of a jumbo bag of M &Ms!" The point being she'd rather not put it in her mouth if she has to digitally record it! I was blown away, and I even thought of taking it one step further and sharing it with a diet partner (Like you :) ) occasionally. This might work, in fact I'm certain it would change my behaivor for a while!

Isn't that crazy? Think about how we could implement this if you want. You might just start getting some funny photos from me, b/c I need to something radical like this to get motivated again!

On the move

Well, I can't seem to eat right, but I'm moving more! I took one walk last week, and have 2 scheduled this week. I'm not exactly hammering - my knee won't allow it - but I'm walking for an hour or so. That feels good. I'm very glad to be doing it. It is making me want to get on my bike, and that is a very good thing. 

I'm going to keep working on eating better. I'm going to keep my head above water. I am not going to give up. Your success is going to encourage me to do better!

Talk this week? I miss you! Love you!

Discouraged!

My dear friend, after that one good day, I've blown it each day since! Can't seem to get on the horse and stay on. But...as soon as I sign off here I'm going to go write out menus and meal choices for the next 7 days. I hope thinking it out ahead of time will give me a better focus. Sometimes I need very clear boundaries. I'm trying to not be discouraged. I can think of this as a long-term process. It has taken me a long time to develop these bad habits, so I guess I can't expect to break them right away. 

I love that we're doing this together. I will try to take a look at my recipes and send you low-fat ones. I have some very good ones!

Meanwhile, I'll do some meal planning, grocery shopping, and hope to have a good report to give later this week. I already have one hike planned with a friend. That, at least, is progress. 

Ditto

Hey! I'm glad you got some activity in. I would love to be able to run. It seems to be such a great way to keep the weight off. I admire my friends so much who are able to do that... By the way, I tried both of the recipes I sent you and they were so yummy! The tiramisu didn't taste low fat at all. Of course, I used some of Bill's flavorful home brew coffee, and that added a lot of dimension to it. The turkey manicotti was a big hit too. Bill even loved it! I did a little bit of spice and some mozzerella, just a sprinkle.

Please let me know if you run across some good low cal recipes. I need to attack this weight issue from many angles. Especially eating better and less since I don't work out much at all...

Good Monday!

I'm feeling good about this week! Yesterday, despite having a cold, I went for a 45 minute walk with a friend. It was difficult, let me tell you. I am so out of shape, and she is a runner. I was huffing and puffing up the hills, and she wasn't even breathing hard. A good reminder of just how out of shape I am. It also reminded me that I will profit by any activity I do. 

I also stuck to my food plan! Yeah! Thanks for sharing that website. I'll check it out for sure. Here we go...progress at last. ;-D

Cool Website

Hey Cindy! We have to keep our momentum going! I just looked at a website I think I already mentioned to you. Eat Better America.com. It has healthy redos of favorite recipes, nutrition advice, etc. And I was thrilled for you to see that they have the Food Pyramid stuff figured out for each recipe. I'm hoping you'll enjoy looking at it. I actually think I'm going to drop off the Best Life website b/c much of the same stuff is free at Eat Better America. I'll just need to journal on my own. Do you know of any good food databases out there that have nutrition breakdown on foods? I'm going to check out Eat Better a little closer, and see if they do that. There was also one I heard of that had lots of the restaurant nutrition info. Let me know if you are aware of any of these!

Enjoy the website!

Back to Reality

Hey you! I got the yuckiest cold last week. It's really zapped my energy. I don't think I gained anything, but I certainly lost focus due to medication and sleepiness. I'm still very tired, do you think antibiotics just do that to your system, or is it the cold fighting? Anyway, reading your positive and persistent entries is encouraging me to renew again. I've been craving lots of fruits and veggies lately, so I think I'll go with that. I'll try to call you soon! Sorry I didn't reach you last week when the cold hit...

Progress

Well, a baby step, at least! Today instead of going out to lunch while running errands, I ate leftovers at home...and measured everything! Since then, I've had a few M&Ms and cashews that were sitting around the kitchen, but when I realized I was hungry, I had a glass of milk instead of more nuts and chocolate! Yeah! One step at a time. xo 

Restart - new start - another start?!

No, I think I'll just say I'm keeping on with what I've already started! If I require myself to "restart" mentally and emotionally, much less physically, every time I have a bad day (week?!), I'll never get on a roll. 

I thought I would feel discouraged because I did have another pretty bad week, starting last Saturday at the teen retreat. I didn't pay much attention to what I ate. I don't think I did too bad, but it was all downhill from there: Chinese buffet, huge deli sandwich, McDonalds, cake last night, etc. I'm not discouraged, though. All our talking and writing is keeping me positive, believing I can do this over time. 

Today I'm going to start journaling again. I'm going to think about what I put in my mouth. I'm going to add 2-3 oz. of protein to my food pyramid and try to keep the hungries at bay. I'm going to focus on portions. I also need to give some thought to a short-term goal. I don't have any clothing issues like your jeans. I think I'll start with under 220 (on my scale) as my short-term goal. (Eeck! I said out loud how much I weigh! Shocking to me to see that number. Oh, well.)

Starting Monday, I am going to start walking just a little each day...or going for a short bike ride. I'm also going to start tackling my *!@?$ boxes my basement is filled with that I've been meaning to get to for 11 months. I hope to focus on those two things in March. Well, those things and my eating... ;-)

Onward and upward!

Loved talking to you!

Cindy, you were such a blessing this morning! I'm sorry I was so scattered at the store. Trying to do too much at once. But I reflected on your retreat story, and was really encouraged! I am reminded of a great sermon we heard from Isaiah the other day. Specifically Is6:8, "Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said "Here am I. Send me!" I've got the chills Cindy b/c you are living that out at this very moment, and telling me and others of the incredible blessings from the Lord for opening yourself to His will and following it. Amazing! Thank you!

I will post more about the Best Life in a little while. One encouraging thought is that I'm enjoying trying some of these new healthy foods. They taste awesome, and it's nice knowing I'm making choices to live my best life! Love you!

Forward Progress

Hey! I just joined the Bob Greene Best Life Website. It is $19.95 for the first month, and $9.95 each month after, you can cancel whenever. I think this is the program I want to try for a while. I love that when I'm shopping at the store I can find his seal of approval on products. And they've all been good for me and yummy so far. The website has lots of neat areas, you can log in your food intake, journal your emotions (which is why I'm glad we're here too!), chat with other folks in the same boat, get tons of recipes. They also make a meal plan for you for every day, and you can customize it with what you actually eat. The food base is incredible. It has tons of entries, like the Pizza Hut veggie thin crust pizza I ate today. Still way too many calories, but I think this website will help me get real about what I'm eating! I'm going home Monday morning and hope I can get on board quickly with it. Right now my current activity level is to get 90 minutes of exercise a week, I think I can handle that time requirement. It's a slight challenge that I need!

Thanks for the pep post. I enjoyed it, and took it to heart! Love you!

Truths

Our weight cannot define us. Does not define us. Will not define us. 

It does not determine our worth, our beauty, our value. 

A good or bad eating day will not define a good or bad day. 

We will rejoice in all the small successes and only look at our failures in order to learn. Other than that, they are behind us.

Even though change will be slow, we will change. We are capable of it, desire it, deserve it. 

Pep talk! xo 

Total System Crash!

Oh my goodness, I wonder if I have a restart button! The next few days are going to be rough when I go to Springfield to diet. I developed bad eating habits there, but can try to combat it a little by walking in their great neighborhood. I feel too rushed to even pay attention to all this, but I think next week when I get back, or maybe even in Springfield, I want to take some serious uninterrupted time to go over the pyramid and get my journaling going. After that, I think I can implement some real changes. Some good things are that my stomach is somehow shrinking. Like I had Chinese today for lunch, but was stuffed after I ate the egg drop soup and egg roll. I hardly touched my entree, very unusual for me! I am emotional right now, and overeating a bit in response. Please pray for me to find another way to handle situations and feelings! I miss you so much, and yes we need to take the long term view and we're in this for a while! It will be so worth it, however, to feel healthy and strong! We're both beautiful ladies just waiting to get out! Actually, I think we're beautiful anyway, but sometimes I don't know myself lately when I look at pictures. Ugh!!! Focus on the positive... I'm giving myself a pep talk ha ha! I hope so much to talk this weekend. Did I mention the website Eatbetteramerica.com? It has yummy recipe remakes... talk to you soon!

Restart

Well, I'm back in the saddle again (sing it!). ;-) I had a good day yesterday...almost. I did have a few peanuts that I didn't write down. I did, however, count that 1/2 a piece of pizza and the 2 Girl Scout cookies I ate! And...I'm on my 4th day without a headache! Yeah! I hope to walk today, a stroll really, but outside and moving. 

I think this losing weight is going to be very hard! I don't know what the key is going to be for me. Being consistent and building new habits? Keeping my eye on the goal of health? Making progress? Not sure. I may need to give some thought to that. 

I have some good ideas for this week - tasty breakfasts (cereal I like, frozen waffles), easy lunches (make a delicious wrap with store-bought bbq, lots of homemade coleslaw that takes like 5 minutes to make, lots of good vegies which I actually do love), and some healthy dinner options. I do have a couple nights this week I'll be eating out - one at a potluck. That will be a challenge, but I think I'll just try to save as many proteins and carbs as I can. 

Love you!! Let's keep doing this together. xoxo C

Is it only Wednesday?

Aah! I'm not doing too great this week. I keep just forgetting that I'm trying to eat better. How can I forget?! Friday night. Again on Saturday night. Sunday lunch with Tim. Last night. What's up? Somehow I need to stay f.o.c.u.s.e.d!

Today I ate a tiny frozen dinner for lunch that hasn't satisfied me at all. I'll have a struggle this afternoon not snacking on peanuts (!) I bought for a crockpot Thai chicken recipe. Time for milk and yogurt? ;-) Ooh, yum! :-/

Yes, I have to totally avoid some places. KFC, for one. My favorite Chinese buffet - toture! McD's I can do all right, because I really only go there for b'fast, and their egg mcmuffin isn't too bad...if I skip the Coke and hash browns! Oh dear, this is tough. We'll both keep it in perspective, though, and get the hang of it. Yes, that food pyramid is quite a tiny amount of food compared to what I've been eating. The hunger was pretty bad for about 1 1/2 weeks. Then it got better. Don't forget those 3 milk portions a day. They will help keep you full. 

Chin up, stomach in, belts tightened, attitude adjusted, menu planned (sort of) and ... I'm off!

Baby Steps

This process is so funny! It seems every day I do lots of good things (and need to give myself credit for that!) and then a bad meal comes along or an irrisistible goodie. Perhaps the key is having as many days as possible that are as good as possible. Does that make sense? Because life doesn't stop when you're cutting calories! I do feel like my clothes are a little looser. And I seem to be getting full on less food! I checked out the pyramid and it seemed like not very much food at all. But then I realized, oh, this is what someone my age and height is SUPPOSED to eat in a day. Light bulb! Did you start off immediately following those guidelines? It seems hunger would be out of control at the beginning on that, so did you add in some veggies or nuts for a snack in between meals?

I'm reading a book about changing our patterns to make dieting more successful. One thing I do that can lead to downfalls is, as you know, I love to get a tea or diet coke through a drive through. Well, there's 2 places I do this, where I occasionally add in calories I don't need. Chick Fil A has these incredible little chicken breakfast biscuits, but I'm sure they're not good for me! And sometimes at McD's, Anne Marie asks for hashbrowns, and I get an Egg McMuffin. So I have decided, for now, to avoid those two places when I get my caffeine fix. Best plan is to have tea at my house, but in case I'm on the go, I think it's wise to break those habits. Do you have some things like that which provide hidden calories? I'm trying to evaluate and find some more!

Hope you're having more success this week! Love you! By the way, she's curvy too! Maybe we'll find a sequin suit like that for our "after" pictures, haha!

Why?

Very good idea, Julie. Here's my list. Pretty basic, but has been true for a long time...

• to be healthier (so I don't have as many worries in my old age!)

• to do the things outside I want (climb mountains, ride my bike, play touch football)

• to shop at a normal store (save money, wear cuter clothes, make shopping easier!)

That's pretty much it for me. Basic.

 xo!

Weekend

Well, I didn't do too great this weekend. In fact, I haven't written a thing down since Friday. That's ok. I'll get back on the horse tomorrow. 

Let's see, ideas for sweet treats. Frankly, I really like Ovaltine. That way I get a milk serving, and some chocolate! ;-) I also very much like dried fruit - so sweet, a fruit serving, and no fat. Always a plus. Dessert isn't my weakness - salty snacks are, so I'm looking for alternatives to tortilla chips. I've rediscovered lowfat, microwave popcorn. God bless Orville Redenbacher!

I AM praying for you...and will continue to do so. This is the time we can both experience success!

How's it going?

Crazy weekend! Hope you are continuing with your successes. I still need to get on the pyramid site, and start journaling my food. Am much too aware that my portions are too large. Today I was wanting a little something sweet for dessert, but not to blow it. I need to get some Jello FF pudding for such cravings, seems to really hit the spot. Any ideas from you on that? I need to post the list I made for why I want to lose weight. I will do that here in a day or so. I'm sure you can relate to a few of the ideas, and have some unique ones of your own.

Love you so! Pray that I will get my crap together and get organized enough to start this formally. I think I'm still wrapping my head around it, which is such an impt step for me! Talk to you soon!

Confession and rejoicing

So, I got to our Bible study last night, served everyone my Indo food, then totally forgot - I mean totally - to pay attention to how much I was eating. I think I did all right, though. I can tell my stomach is shrinking. I just don't want to eat as much as I did just a couple of weeks ago! It is quite amazing! I did, however, eat a cupcake after getting home. Boo!

And...I got on the scale this morning to discover...I have lost THREE POUNDS!! Can you believe it? In 2 weeks? I am so excited! If it is wasn't so early in the morning, I would call you! ;-)

This is a huge encouragement to me. The things that encourage me most are:

• I'm not feeling deprived - the food I'm eating is tasty, satisfying and interesting
  
• I'm not hungry all the time - I'm finding ways to use my portions to satisfy me throughout the day
• I'm actually losing weight - which means this is working
• I'm doing this for free - not paying for any weight loss plan
• this is something I can keep up

Those are all great things! This coming week I hope to start walking every day I don't have something else scheduled. I can't stand walking for exercise; however, I love music, I love being outside. I'll hopefully combine those two things I do like and get past the not-liking-walking-thing! After all, I don't have room to do aerobics, I won't join a gym, and even though I love riding my bike, it can be quite a production when I only have 1/2 an hour or something like that.

Whew, enough from me! Love to you! C

P.S. The caption on this poster says, "Find the biggest ass and kiss it." Just thought that was funny. ;-)

I'm learning!

Hello! Trial run!

Even with ribeye...

Hi, dear friend, 

Here's our first blog on losing weight. I hope this helps us succeed!! :-)

Here's my plan:

follow the food pyramid

start walking next week

Not too complicated so far! Ha, ha...

I'm having dinner with my family tonight, and Becky told me she bought ribeye. I also met Dad for b'fast at one of my favorite restaurants. Knowing I was going to want to save all my protein portions for the yummy steak, I had granola, fruit and an English muffin for b'fast. For lunch I was equally disciplined and had 2 tortillas filled with homemade coleslaw of cabbage, carrot and red pepper. It was actually quite yummy! If I still get hungry this afternoon, I have some milk portions leftover and can have some chocolate milk or yogurt. Yeah! A successful day of choices! Good for me!

You asked me about a lowfat salad dressing/vinaigrette. Short answer: no. I try to just use as little as possible - the old Weight Watcher's trick of dipping your fork into the dressing really works! I have heard, however, that several ladies I know really like those new spray salad dressing. Wait, I'm wrong. Ken's Steakhouse (can you buy that brand?) has a delicious, low-fat or fat-free raspberry pecan vinaigrette. It is very good!

Good luck! Write soon!