Skinny Dreaming

Four Simple Steps to Achieve Your Goals in 2012

2011-12-28T05:47:00.000-08:00

Christmas, and the usual Christmas indulgences, have passed by now, and the new year is almost upon us. Whether you ate healthily over the holidays or over-indulged, chances are, you are looking at the approaching 2012 and deciding on what you want from the new year ahead.

Are you going to wait until Januaury 1st to begin trying to reach those goals? Or, instead of procrastinating, are you going to start aiming for those goals now?

Achieving you goals takes just four simple steps.

1 - Decide what you want to achieve in 2012.

2 - Now make a list of what steps you need to take to achieve those goals.

3 - Start taking those steps now.

4 - Continue taking the steps it takes to achieve your goals.

Simple, right?

Healthy Ideas For Fun & Gift-Giving For The Holidays

2011-12-23T15:22:00.000-08:00

I wrote this last year and it was originally published in the December 2010 issue of Bevery Hills Child Magazine.

The coming holiday season doesn't have to mean gaining weight for you or your family. Here are some easy ways to make your holidays healthier and to show your children how to have a fun and healthy time while celebrating without adding any additional calories and fat to your daily life.

1. Make cookies and cakes healthier. Baking cookies and cakes for the holidays is seen as a holiday tradition for most people. An easy way to make healthier versions of cakes and cookies is to eliminate the oil and butter used in most recipes and replace them with yogurt. You can also replace sugar with sweetener.

Here’s a recipe for Snickerdoodle Balls that kids will love making. They will love the mixing and kneading it takes to make these cinnamon flavoured treats!

Snickerdoodle Balls

Ingredients

6oz self-raising flour
3oz low-fat margarine
12 tbsp sweetener
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp fat-free vanilla yogurt
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 egg yolk

Directions

-Preheat the oven to 350F.

-Mix the sweetener, flour and cinnamon in a bowl. Add the margarine and rub it in using your fingertips until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs.

-Stir in the yogurt and the egg yolk. Knead the mixture with your hands until it forms a soft dough.

-Divide the mixture into 24 small balls. Place the dough balls on a baking tray sprayed with Pam or other low calorie oil spray. Bake these in the oven for 12 to 15 minutes, or until golden. Cool before serving.

2. Make cracker and cream cheese houses. Instead of the traditional gingerbread houses, get out some square crackers, and let children use fat-free cream cheese to stick them together, building a house. Cut up carrots and bell peppers for your children to use to decorate their houses.

3. Make “snow sleds” out of cardboard boxes. You only need a cardboard box and some paints for this craft. Your child will love painting the cardboard box to turn it into their pretend sled.

4. Make pick-a-gift jars. Your child can recycle glass jars and paint them with festive colors and pictures. Let your child write down, on colorful pieces of paper, things he will do as gifts, such as mowing the lawn, walking the dog, washing the car, drawing a picture, etc. Fill the jar with these “gifts”, and whomever he chooses to give this gift to can choose one for your child to do until the choices run out. Just make sure the “gifts” your child lists in the jar are age appropriate.

5. Make meringue Christmas trees. Here’s where a little sugar can go a long way. These meringues do not hold a lot of calories as they are very small, and you can make them healthier by using sweetener in pace of sugar in the recipe.

Christmas Tree Meringues

Ingredients

3 large eggs, whites only
2 ½oz powdered sugar
3 ½oz caster sugar or 3 ½ oz sweetener
green food coloring

Directions

-Preheat the oven to 260F Fan.

- Mix together caster sugar and icing sugar/sweetener.

-Put 3 large eggs whites in a clean bowl, add a few drops of green food coloring and whisk until the mixture forms stiff glossy peaks.

-Add the sugar mixture, one spoonful at a time, whisking until stiff again between each addition.

-Spoon the mixture into a freezer bag and snip the corner and make a hole. Line the baking tray with wax paper and pipe out the meringue to make blobs that get narrower as they go up with the peaks at the top.

-Decorate the meringue tree with silver balls all over it.

6. Serve up a healthy lasagna. This is great because you can make several of these, your child can have fun helping you layer the ingredients, and the lasagne can be frozen to be cooked whenever it is needed. Use disposable foil pans. Let your child join you as you take a lasagna to someone you know could use the helping hand for the holidays this year.

7. Volunteer. Volunteering, and not only letting your child see you volunteering, but letting your child volunteer too, is a great way to teach good values to your child. You can volunteer with your child at a soup kitchen or a food bank. You can help wrap gifts for one of the many charities that deliver toys to children in need over the holidays. There are many ways that you and your child can volunteer and help make the world a little brighter for someone else during this holiday season.

8. Make colourful paper chains and Christmas bows out of ribbon to decorate around the house. Your child will have fun being creative with these kids of simple projects. Let her decide where to decorate.

You can even make tiny bell ornaments out of egg cartons, pipe ceaners, paint and bells. Just cut the bumps out of the egg cartons, poke a hole through the top of each one, and, using pipe cleaners, create loops through the “bells” to hang them from your Christmas tree, sliding jingle bells through the loops on the inside of the egg carton “bells.” Your child can make these or you can make them and your child can paint and decorate them.

9. Make do-it-yourself healthy trail mix snacks. Use granola, raisins, yogurt covered dried strawberries, whole grain Cheerios, mini (unsalted) pretzels and cashews or peanuts. Put everything out and give your child a small sandwich bag. Let your child choose which of the ingredients he wishes to add to his bag and then he can shake it all up inside the bag. Then he can either eat it or tie a ribbon around it to give as a gift.

10. Make your own ornaments out of homemade clay using cookie cutters and acrylic paints. You can make homemade clay using flour, salt and water. Roll it out until it is about ½ inch thick. Get out cookie cutters, preferably Christmas-themed, and your child can cut make as many as they can fit onto the surface. Using a sharp pencil, poke a small hole through the top of each one. Once these are done baking until they are hardened, paint them all white on both sides using white acrylic paint. When the paint dries, your child can use different colors of acrylic paints to make each ornament colourful and unique. When the ornaments are dried, put a tiny ribbon or string through the holes in the top of each one and tie it into a loop. Now the ornaments are ready to either be hung on the tree or to be wrapped as presents.

Salt Clay

Ingredients

2 cups plain flour
1 cup salt
1 to 1 ½ cups cold water
2 tbsp vegetable oil

Directions

-Stir ingredients together. Knead it together well until it forms a soft ball.

-Cut out the cookie shapes.

-Bake in the oven at 300F for an hour or until hard.

Whatever you choose to do for the holidays, just remember that the holidays can be fun and healthy for you and your children. Happy holidays!

What Does It Take?

2011-11-25T04:56:00.000-08:00

What it takes to live a healthy lifestyle:

1. Making the right food choices and sometimes saying "no" to something you want.

2. Giving up an hour or so of your day to commit to exercise.

What it takes to continue living an unhealthy lifestyle:

1. Living with health related illesses (if not now, then later), such as diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, asthma and more.

2. Feeling fatigued and having no energy most of the time.

3. Living with physical pain and breathlessness. Being overweight can cause conditions such as plantar fasciitis (chronically inflamed heels), lack of being able to breathe properly when doing simple things like climbing the stairs in your home, sleep apnea (stopping breathing for moments at a time during your sleep which can be potentially very dangerous), and worse.

4. Living with being teased about your weight, your looks or your lack of physical fitness.

5. Low self-esteem. Being overweight can often correspond with a low self-esteem.

6. Living with not being able to fit into your favorite style of clothes or not being able to shop in the regular-sized clothing stores.

7. Having embarrassing moments such as having to ask for seat belt extenders when on a plane or not fitting onto a roller coaster ride or being uncomfortable sitting in a chair that has arms because the arms squeeze into you.

8. Feeling self-conscious when eating in public. Although it is doubtful anyone is sitting in judgment, it is not always the way things play out in our minds.

The list could be longer, but I will stop here. I know which of the lists I prefer. Do you?

Number One Tip For Making Your Dreams Come True

2011-11-08T05:53:00.000-08:00

I once was very overweight. The medical term was "morbidly obese." The term "morbidly" implied that I was putting my life at risk by being as overweight as I was at the time. I had health problems and lived with pain every single day.

I dreamed that I would someday be slim and healthy again. But dreaming about it wasn't enough. Dreaming about it kept my dream off in the distance somewhere as something that would happen someday.

Now my weight puts me in a healthy BMI. I don't have any pain other than the occasional temporary muscle aches from a new form of exercise. And I am wearing clothes that my teenagers fit into. I have been described as "tiny" and "diddy." I have energy and I have my health back. I lost over half my body weight.

So how did I do it? What is the number one tip I can give you for making your dream, whatever that dream might be, come true?

I was persistent. Persistence is the one thing you need to achieve any goal you have set for yourself. How did I do it? I didn't give up. I kept at it. I didn't let anything stand in my way. I made my goal a priority in my life and I worked hard at it.

Some days it was easier than others. On other days, it was a struggle and a battle the entire day. But I never gave up. I was focused and persistent and I never lost sight of what I wanted and of what I needed to do to get it.

Now I am on a different journey. I have a new goal. I want my children's stories and my novels to be published. For my novels, that means I have to finish them, edit them, and edit them some more. That's why I am participating in National Novel Writing Month again this year. I'm writing 50,000 words or more in 30 days.

And that's why I might not post as often during the month of November. I won't be gone though, and I will try and still update from time to time, or I will share interesting news I find on Skinny Dreaming's Facebook page.

I am giving this goal the same persistence that I gave to losing weight and getting healthy. It's only day 8 of the challenge and I have already written 28,546 words. (This novel might be a bit longer than a mere 50,000 words by the time it is finished.)

If you have a goal, a dream you want to achieve, stop dreaming about it and start reaching for it!

Seven Tips For Eating Healthy On Halloween

2011-10-31T06:22:00.000-07:00

For those of us trying to keep an eye on our waistlines, Halloween can be a real nightmare. We are expected to buy lots of Halloween sweets and treats to hand out. Hopefully, we have enough trick-or-treaters to hand it all out and not be stuck with a bunch of extra temptation in the house, but if we have kids of our own, chances are that they will be bringing home buckets of sugary loot too. How are we supposed to eat healthy while surrounded by so much sweet temptation?

1. Hand out something other than sweets. You could hand out toothbrushes, but that might not be nearly as fun for kids. You could hand out coloring books, crayons, pencils, spider rings, or other Halloween party favors. You could hand out magnets or buttons. These are things that kids will enjoy without rotting their teeth, and there won't be any sweets left calling to your sweet tooth.

2. Throw yourself into decorating for the holiday. Keep yourself busy with making decoratons, hanging decorations and making your home look spooky to keep your mind off of the treats in your house. Bonus, you might be burning off some calories while clmibing laddders, reaching to hang things and pulling fake cobwebs across the ceiling.

3. Keep the sweets out of sight until you need them to hand out. Also keep the loot your children bring home out of sight until they have worked their way through it. Out of sight, out of mind, hopefully. Your kids don't need candy any more than you do, so try and limit how much they eat a time. Maybe give them a piece or two in their lunchboxes until it is gone.

4. Keep a lot of healthy snack food on hand. Chopped carrots or celery with a healthy dip is a quick and easy thing to have available when you get the urge to munch. In order to battle a craving for something sweet, have some fresh strawberries or raspberries available.

5. Drink plenty of water. Sometimes thirst can cause us to mistakenly think we are hungry, so make sure you are full up with water in order to prevent this from happening.

6. Have a healthy and filling dinner before all of the trick-or-treaters start arriving. Again, if you feel full and well satisfied, you are less likely to give in to the urge for one of those candy temptations.

7. Give in a tiny bit to temptation. Sometimes, giving yourself a taste of what you want will help to satisfy the craving. A small treat once in a while is not going to be the end of your healthy eating and is not likely to cause any weight gain, as long as it doesn't become something you do often.

Relax and enjoy the holiday day and have a happy Halloween!

Guest Posting at "Where Are My Knees?"

2011-10-29T11:54:00.000-07:00

Today I have a guest post over at the blog Where Are My Knees? I tell my story again and also give some advice for those of you who are still struggling to lose weight. The ladies over at Where Are My Knees have a great blog full of inspirational stories, recipes and advice, so go and check them out!

Why You Shouldn't Wait For Motivation

2011-10-13T15:24:00.000-07:00

Since losing over 10 stone, I often hear people say, "I wish I had your motivation." Often, I read a lament on Facebook about how someone "can't get motivated." Over and over, people claim they are waiting for motivation before losing weight, and I just have to speak up.

Stop waiting for motivation! If you really want to lose weight, then lose it! If you are tired of being overweight, then take the steps necessary to become healthier and lose your excess fat. And stop moaning about your lack of motivation!

None of us lack motivation. Motivation is just a combination of the reasons you have for losing weight. It is the rewards you expect to gain when you lose the weight.

When I was 10 stone overweight, I had plenty of motivation to lose the weight. It hurt to walk. I had health problems developing. I had seven children who relied on me and needed me to be healthy and energetic for them. I lacked energy. I hated the way I looked. And this list of motivators goes on. And yet, all of this motivation to lose weight did not start me losing weight. I was morbidly obese for over a decade.

It wasn't until I began taking the steps towards losing the weight (like joining Slimming World, keeping a food diary and exercising) and going through the necessary actions that any of my drive to lose weight started coming into play. The more I ate healthy and exercised, the more weight I started to lose, the more drive I found to continue with it.

So stop moaning about your lack of motivation. If you really want to lose weight, then you will do something about it. No more saying you just can't do it because you can't find the motivation. If it's important to you, you are capable of making it happen.

Treading Water

2011-09-27T15:10:00.000-07:00

Wondering why I called this post "Treading Water?" Am I going to be writing about a new swimming exercise or some fascinating aspect of water that helps with weight loss. Well, no.

Treading water is, metaphorically speaking, what I am doing right now. You know what I mean, right? You do the same thing over and over, and even though it is the same thing that you do so easily in the beginning, it begins to get harder and more difficult to keep doing it. Currently, that's me.

I am still eating healthy, and I am still exercising a lot, but my results are not coming as easily. It seems to be getting more difficult to maintain my weight loss. I am not binge eating. I am not having lots of fatty and unhealthy fare. I am not eating out. I am cooking healthy nutritious meals. I have even started watching my portions.

But despite all of this, my weight has been creeping upwards. I am up about ten pounds and it doesn't seem to want to come off. I have no idea what changes I need to make to bring my weight back down because I am doing everything I am supposed to do. I am staying focused.

I am not giving up because it is not in my nature to give up, but I am frustrated.

Of course, this was all something I could have posted about last week. This week, I actually haven't been eating enough, not because I thought it would help me lose weight or anything daft like that but because I had a toothache and eating anything at all caused me a lot of pain. I've been to the dentist now, and my tooth pain should be gone in a few days.

But not eating enough over this week of pain has caused my weight to go up a few more pounds. I feel like crying, but I'll get over it.

Reebok has said that they will replace my crosstrainer and even give me an upgrade, as my case is such a special one, to a crosstrainer that has not had any complaints. It won't be here for another two weeks though. Maybe getting my crosstrainer back will help with my weight. I hope so (mainly because I am oh-so-tired of running up and down the stairs of my three story house while carrying handweights. I am not graceful, so I will be lucky if I don't end up breaking something while doing this particular exercise!)

I am not feeling sorry for myself (okay, maybe a little). I know the added pounds will eventually come back off. I'm frustrated and fairly angry at my body right now though. (Who knew my body had a mind of its own and was as stubborn as, well, me?)

Another Broken Elliptical Crosstrainer & A Challenge To The Manufacturers

2011-08-17T11:41:00.000-07:00

My elliptical crosstrainer BROKE again! This is number EIGHT! I've had this one since April. I can now officially say that I do NOT recommend Reebok crosstrainers. I do not believe that companies build them to last for people who actually use them, and I challenge any company to prove me wrong.

The challenge is this: If you believe that your elliptical crosstrainer is of a sufficient construction to hold up with regular daily use (an hour to two hours of use a day, everyday), then send it to me. I will use it and do an initial blog about the features of it that I like and or don't like. I will do another blog post on it after 6 months, if it makes it that long without breaking down, to update everyone on how well it is or isn't holding up. I will do another blog post after a year, if it lasts that long. I will even do a third blog post after two years' time, if it is still functioning at that time.

However, if it is as weak and breakable as all of the rest that I have used, I will lambast it in my blog as a useless piece of rubbish.

I like machines that tell me calories burned based on my weight, distance covered, and that allow me to increase or decrease the resistance.

I am not a large person. I weigh, on any given day, between 125 and 135 lbs. I am 5' 2" tall, and my weight and size should not have an adverse effect on how well or poorly the machine works.

I am really just fed up with my exercise machine breaking down. Reebok has been good enough to replace them as they break, but I end up having to go weeks, and once a whole month, without a working machine in the meantime. And on top of that, each replacement machine has to be ASSEMBLED, which I hate doing.

Inspirational Quotes for Reaching Your Weight Loss Goals

2011-08-06T15:33:00.000-07:00

I have assembled some inspirational quotes about achieving our dreams, reaching for our goals and succeeding at weight loss, including some quotes from my own blog posts, here to help you when you need a bit of a boost in your motivation. Enjoy!

"Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world." ~Harriet Tubman

“Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand – and melting like a snow flake” - M.B. Ray

"Reach high, for stars lie hidden in your soul. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal." ~Pamela Vaull Starr

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined." ~Henry David Thoreau

"Next time you hear the voice of your inner critic, remember that your inner critic LIES, and try replacing that inner voice with a new one, one that encourages you and helps you to believe in your own worth." ~Rebecca Fyfe

"There are some people who live in a dream world, and there are some who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other." ~Douglas Everett

"So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains
And we never even know we have the key." ~Lyrics from Already Gone, peformed by the Eagles for their 1974 On the Border album

"You cannot dream yourself into a character: you must hammer and forge yourself into one." ~Henry D. Thoreau

"Today is the day to choose. Choose to live longer. Choose to have more energy. Choose the be strong and capable. Choose to stop putting things off. Choose to be healthy." ~Rebecca Fyfe

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." ~Eleanor Roosevelt

"Commitment leads to action. Action brings your dream closer." ~Marcia Wieder

"The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up." ~Paul Valery

"#1 excuse for not following your dream -"I don't have time." Suggestion: Look at the unecessary things that do take up your time and replace them with things that help your dream. Never give up!" ~Rebecca Fyfe

"Life is like a game of cards. The hand that is dealt you represents determinism; the way you play it is free will." ~Jawaharal Nehru

"Believe with all of your heart that you will do what you were made to do." ~Orison Swett Marden

"Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do." ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"Anything is possible is you are willing to take the necessary steps to make it happen. Focus on your goals and you can make them real!" ~Rebecca Fyfe

"We are still masters of our fate. We are still captains of our souls." ~Winston Churchill

""We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action." ~Frank Tibolt

“Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams.” ~Ashley Smith

"The only things that stand in the way of your dreams becoming a reality are the limits you place on yourself." ~Rebecca Fyfe

"Take care of your body with steadfast fidelity. The soul must see through these eyes alone, and if they are dim, the whole world is clouded." ~Johann Goethe

"Believe - even when it is not rational and good things will happen." ~anonymous

"If you have a dream, you have to believe, with every fiber of your being, that you can achieve it, and then you have to do the work it takes to make it a reality." ~Rebecca Fyfe

"We have the power to shrink our dreams to fit reality or the power to stretch our reality to fit our dreams." ~anonymous

"There is no authentic goal you can set for yourself that can't be reached, no dream that can't be realized. It's just a matter of learning HOW to achieve what you want." ~Jillian Michaels

"Whatever stage you are at in your weight loss goals, whether you are just starting out, halfway there or already at your goal weight, know that you are beautiful NOW." ~Rebecca Fyfe

"Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius and power and magic in it." ~Johann Goethe

"My advice is, never do tomorrow what you can do today. Procrastination is the thief of time." ~Charles Dickens

"Weight loss is ALL about figuring out your weaknesses, modifying and rolling with the punches. If you stumble, get back up and dust yourself off." ~Kayecee Spain

"Diet schmiet. Feed it good food, give it fun and exercise, & your body loves you." ~Barbara Mack

"The difference between a successful person & others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack in will." ~ V.Lombardi

"Losing weight is not your life’s work. Your life’s work is to love, to serve, to be honest, to develop personal integrity, to be kind, to raise healthy children, to grow spiritually, to adore yourself. Which is not to say you can’t choose to shed some excess baggage. You’ll just do it with a sense of perspective." ~Lisa Turner

"Impossible" is just an opinion." ~ Paulo Coelho

"Get rid of that negative little voice in your head that whispers to you that you can’t do it, you’re not strong enough, it’s too hard and all of the other negative words. Just ignore it. You know, deep down, that you can achieve your dreams, so follow that deeper inner voice and believe in yourself." ~Rebecca Fyfe

We Need To Be Healthy For Our Kids

2011-08-03T11:54:00.000-07:00

I wrote this for Beverly Hills Child Magazine and it was originally published in the January 2011 issue.

There are many benefits to being healthy and physically fit. Most of us are aware of how our being healthy benefits ourselves. We know that exercise helps to keep our heart strong and prevent heart disease. We know that weight bearing exercise helps to strengthen our muscles and that more muscle mass increases our metabolism. We know that maintaining a healthy body mass index and not letting ourselves get overweight helps prevent diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart failure and a host of other health problems. We know that strong bones help our posture and that strong stomach muscles can help prevent back pain. We know that being physically fit means we will have more energy than if we were heavy or out of shape. We know that eating healthy food like vegetables and other fresh produce helps prevent certain cancers.

There are a myriad of health benefits to maintaining a healthy weight, eating a healthy diet and getting a moderate amount of daily exercise. And we know about these benefits. Newspaper headlines shout about these benefits to us regularly. Television newscasts inform us of these benefits almost daily. We already know.

But parents are busy people, and often we ignore these warnings about diseases that being overweight can cause. Often we ignore the headlines that tell us to eat fresh produce every day. What some of us don’t understand is that when we ignore these articles, like the ones that tell us we should exercise to help prevent heart disease, we are being completely selfish.

Selfish sounds like such a harsh word. But it fits. Letting ourselves be overweight and unfit, eating fatty, sugar-laden food, sitting watching television instead of going out for a walk, all of those things are selfish acts for parents to do. How is it that doing something that is normally seen as only harmful to ourselves can be called selfish? It’s selfish because our lives are no longer our own once we have children.

By not taking care of our bodies, all kinds of things can happen. We can become more prone to injuries and illnesses. Our children need us to be able to take care of them, and that is very difficult to do if we’ve got injuries that keep us from walking easily, or keep getting sick and have trouble getting out of bed.

We can develop chronic diseases. These can be really frightening for our children to see in us, their parents. If Daddy goes into a diabetic coma, his daughter is going to cry and worry and miss him until he is okay, and then she will continue to worry that it might happen again. If Mommy faints because her blood pressure is too high, her son is going to cry and worry and miss her until she is okay, and then he will continue to worry that it might happen again. The safety he once felt will be gone.

We will have less energy. Anyone with small children knows how difficult it can be to keep up with them when all you want to do is sleep. We need all the energy we can find to keep up with our children and to have the patience that they so often require from us. Many of us will have less patience when we are tired. And many of us will be less able to concentrate when we are tired. And children are incredibly inventive at getting into trouble when parents are too tired to be patient or to concentrate fully.

We can die. It is silly to think that playing fire with our health will only affect ourselves. Any child who has lost a parent will tell you that he was never the same again. Our children need us to be in their lives. They need us to give them love and hugs. They need us to help them with homework. They need us to encourage them, to teach them, to listen to them, to talk to them, to just be there for them, always. They need us to live.

We also need to be an example for our children. Our children need to see us being healthy. They learn more from what we do than from what we say. If they see us eating fast food and sitting in front of the television most of the time, then that is what they will learn to do. If instead, they see us eating fresh fruit and going for a walk every day, then they will learn that from us.

It is selfish of us to live an unhealthy lifestyle. By living an unhealthy lifestyle, by letting ourselves remain overweight and unfit, we are harming our children. This is a new year, a time for new beginnings. So let’s start this new year by making a promise to make sure that we are living a healthy lifestyle for our children. We owe it to them.

11 Weight Loss Tips

2011-07-13T14:05:00.000-07:00

I have posted tips for weight loss before, so I may be repeating things I have said before, but this is just off the top of my head (in answer to someone who asked me for some tips). I thought, since I was typing up some quick tips anyway, I would add them here too.

1 - Limit your breads and cereals.

2 - Switch to whole grain breads, pastas, rices and such.

3 - Make sure your meats are lean. If frying, "dry fry" using Fry Light or some other low-calorie oil spray.

4 - Eat lots and lots and lots of fruit and vegetables throughout the day and with meals. Make sure that you dinner plate is 1/3 full of vegetables with each meal.

5 - Snack on things like fat-free yogurt, eggs, and fruit salad.

6 - Limit your "treats" to somewhere between 200 and 300 calories a day.

7 - Find time to exercise. Maybe it's walking while your baby is being pushed in the stroller, or maybe it's working out to an exercise video when your child naps or after your partner gets home - but find the time.

8 - Avoid high sugar drinks such as soda (diet is okay) and fruit juice.

9 - Most of your recipes that call for sugar can have the amount of sugar cut by 1/3 without affecting the taste.

10 - Replace sugar with sweetener when possible.

11 - Don't give up! You can do it! Just believe in yourself!

And, for an extra tip - You could always join Slimming World like I did.

Hiking Up The Wrong Mountain

2011-07-09T23:25:00.000-07:00

You might think that the above title of this post is a metaphor, and I'm sure I could come up with some profound post using it as such. But it's not. Today, my husband Robert, my daughter Angelica and I really did hike up the wrong mountain.

To be fair, I didn't know, at the beginning of the walk, that I was even going to be hiking up any mountain, let alone the wrong mountain. My husband suggested we walk our dog Mercury to a park with a lake that was only about 2 miles away. I should have realized that there would be more to our walk than that though, because he bought me some new hiking shoes just a couple of days ago.

As we passed the park, my husband said, "I fancy walking up there," and he pointed to what appeared to be a group of trees at the top of a very distant mountain. "It's Barbury Castle," he told Angelica and me. Seeing the look of apprehension cross my face, he tried to assure me, "It's not as far as it looks. You know that we always walk to places that look like they are a long way off and find out that they are not really that far."

I thought about my new shoes and how they were already rubbing my feet the wrong way (as new shoes tend to do), and then I thought about how many times in the past my husband had mentioned wanting to hike to Barbury Castle. I sighed internally and began the treck with my husband, my 18 year old daughter and our border collie.

The trip was all uphill and mostly in rough terrain, both dirt and long grass. And today was blisteringly hot. I had expected to be rained on and had not been prepared (meaning I hadn't put any sunblock on my fair skin) for the hot sun that shone on us during the entire hike.

We'd never hiked to Barbury Castle before. Angelica mentioned that she really would love to have a cold drink and something to eat, so Robert pointed to another little group of trees that were a short distance away from the place we were heading and told her that there was a cafeteria there where we would stop. We knew that Mercury would need some water by then too.

We saw lots of rabbits, horses, squirrels and other wildlife along the way. There were also fields of wheat. It really was a beautiful hike. I had my mobile phone with me, so I used it to take some pictures during our hike.

When we finally reached the top of the mountain and the place where Barbury Castle should have been, we found out that we had hiked up the wrong mountain. We had, instead, reached the Liddington Castle hill fort. Barbury Castle was on another mountain. We could see it from where we stood. There was a dial showing us the different direction of the various local sights and it pointed out which direction Barbury Castle was from us. Angelica was not pleased.

But we had her take some photos of us there at the top, and we took some of her too.

We may not have been at the location of Barbury Castle, but there was a moat.

There was no cafeteria for us to stop in at. There was no food for Angelica to fill her tummy with and no cold drinks for us. On our way back though, Mercury found a water trough for horses and drank his fill. At one point, we wound up stuck in a field surrounded by a barbed wire fence and had to carefully climb over it and then lift our dog over it too.

We got to see a horse with one blue eye and one brown eye.

We did manage to stop at a gas station when we were most of the way home. I had a Diet Coke, Robert had a Cherry Coke and a Starbar, and Angelica had a Coke and a Starbar. (Robert bought me a Starbar too, but I brought mine home and tucked it away in my Syn Tin for eating when I have enough syns available.)

When we got home, we looked our hike up on Google maps and found out that, all in all, we had hiked 10.25 miles. I was sunburned and tired, but the walk had been an enjoyable one. It was good to know that I could do the hike. There was a time in my overweight past when a hike like today's would have been beyond my ability.

And there you have it; sometimes hiking up the wrong mountain can be a pleasant experience and can teach you something about yourself.

Of course, Robert still wants to hike to Barbury Castle.

Body Image & Battling My Inner Critic

2011-05-24T15:21:00.000-07:00

You would think that, after having spent years being morbidly obese and then finally, finally, being slim again, I would be thrilled with my new body and wouldn't have a complaint about any part of it. I mean, really, can't I be happy that I look and feel so much better now than I did when I weighed more than twice what I weigh now? Shouldn't losing 145 pounds make me feel really good about what I now see in the mirror?

But nothing is ever simple or easy, and even though I am an advocate of girls and women feeling good about themselves, believing in themsleves and in their own, natural beauty no matter what shape, size, age or color they may be, I still find myself being very critical of my own appearance.

I have been asked before about loose skin since losing so much weight, and I will answer honestly by saying, yes, there is some loose skin. It's not a lot of loose skin and it's not as bad as it was in the beginning. The more time I spend at or near my target weight, the more the loose skin firms up. But I still find myself looking at it and feeling unhappy with it. Loose skin in my belly area, boobs that have lost their fullness, and a bit of loose skin on my upper arms; it all makes me sometimes feel less than lovely.

Then there are the signs of age. I spent my 20s and most of my 30s being so overweight that any wrinkles that were beginning to appear were hidden in layers of fat. Now that the fat is gone, my crow's feet and laugh lines are showing. The skin on my neck is not as smooth as it once was. My forehead has creases that were not there before I gained all of that weight. My red hair is much thinner now than it used to be, and tiny strands of white are beginning to appear in it.

But I am trying and striving to silence that inner critic, the one that tells me I will never be pretty enough or thin enough or young enough. Because I used to hear her, that inner voice telling me I'm not good enough, all of those years ago when I was young and thin and had never been overweight, when my hair was thick and shiny without a strand of grey. She used to speak to me when I was a young girl and a teen, and strangely enough, despite my youth, despite the terrific figure I had back then, she still told me I wasn't pretty enough or good enough or thin enough. And this is how I know that my inner critic lies.

So I fight her. And there are beginning to be more and more days when I win against her, when I feel good about myself and even feel pretty. There are days when I don't fight her hard enough, but I am finding that, the older I get, the less I hear that voice. She's still there, whispering in my mind and hidden behind my own thoughts sometimes, but I am able to ignore her more often. I even find myself replacing her with a new voice, one that tells me I am more than good enough. And I am finding that I like this new inner voice much better.

Next time you hear the voice of your inner critic, remember that your inner critic lies, and try replacing her voice with a new one, one that encourages you and helps you to believe in your own worth.

Elliptical Crosstrainer Replacement AGAIN

2011-05-11T03:47:00.000-07:00

Reebok is going to replace my broken elliptical finally. (This one only lasted about two months.) Robert and I worked out that this one was our 7th one that broke. I'm wondering how long the 8th one will last! Reebok would have saved money if they'd given us a gym-strength one from the beginning as, although we spent a lot of money on the machine, none of them seem to be made to last for people who actually use them.

The video above is what we had to show them in order to get a replacement. Robert had to take the side off in order to be able to show the damaged part. It is broken in the same place that the last one broke. I am worried that, if they replace it with the same model again, it will just break again in the same place. This is only the second time we have had this model as they stopped doing the previous model we used. I liked our previous one better, even though it too did not survive the test of daily use.

If this one breaks after a short while too, I will announce the make and model so you can all avoid buying one. If I ever get a quality machine that is built to last, I will happily write reviews about it every six months for the first two years just to show everyone that it is still going strong! But so far, after having seven machines fail on me and, of those seven machines, three different models that have failed, I am skeptical that any company bothers any more to make quality equipment.

I know that people tend to buy these things and after a few short workouts on them, they have a tendency to only use them as coat racks for the rest of the machine's time in their house. However that is no excuse for companies to allow them to be made so poorly and to let the quality to slip so far down in standards.

I am not overly rough on my elliptical crosstrainers. I spend an hour to an hour and a half a day on the machine, every day. Robert used to use it occasionally too, but he hasn't used either of the last two machines at all. I just run on them. I adjust the resistance as I run. But I don't do anything that should cause damage to the machine.

I am not a heavy person. I am well below the maximum weight allowed on these machines. And yet they keep breaking.

It is such a hassle to have to assemble the machines when they arrive, get to use them for a little while, then wait on delivery of the replacment machine (which has taken several weeks this time) and do without my usual exercise during that time. And then, of course, Robert or I will have to assemble the new one, again.

It is so much hassle that I am getting really, really annoyed with the whole process, but I keep hoping that the next one will last me for a decent amount of time.

Regardeless of my fears for how long this 8th elliptical crosstrainer will last, I am hopeful, and I am relieved that I will once again be able to work out on a crosstrainer again. It always helps me to maintain my weight, and since I have had a small gain during the weeks we were moving and the weeks I have been without my elliptical crosstrainer, I need to get back into my workouts.

Where Have I Been?

2011-05-09T12:41:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry I haven't been around much lately. We moved to a new house, and my husband canceled our Internet the week before we moved. What we didn't know at the time was that, because our house (and street) our newly built, they are not set up with the cables for us to be getting our broadband Internet, so we have now gone most of the month with no Internet connection. Robert just bought me a dongle for a small amount of wireless access, so I am taking advantage of it to try and let everyone know where I have been.

My elliptical crosstrainer broke AGAIN. This is our 6th or 7th one. The manufacturer wants us to send photos of it and then will let us know what they will do, if anything about it. They have replaced them all up until now, but I am getting really tired of always having to go without while it gets done and then the hassle of putting the machines together each time. I just want them to make the machines so that they actually work and last for someone who USES the machine regularly. *sigh*.

I feel fat. I have not been able to do my crosstrainer because it's broken and it was a big part of my daily exercise. The week we did our move, I did NOT eat well. We are still unpacking. We still have a lot of money to spend on this place as it still needs carpets in a lot of the rooms and many of us have no wardrobe closets or dresser drawers so we have those to buy. We definitely need more bookcases, and until we get them, our house will remain full of boxes. *sigh*

I know I put on a tiny bit of weight over the move (and some chocolate over Easter - oops!), and not being able to do my most helpful exercise is bothersome. I am trying to do even more walking than I was, but everything on me feels less firm at the moment.

Hopefully, I can work out something else to do until my machine is replaced.

In the meantime, I am spending about an hour and a half more on buses each day taking the kids to and from school, and my 16 year old brought home a new kitten. She's cute and playful, as all kittens are, but I occasionally have to run interference between her and our other cat.

Slimming World Photo Shoot

2011-03-30T12:41:00.000-07:00

I had my photo shoot today. I wasn't too thrilled about traveling there and back (up at 5am, at the post office by 6am to pick up my tickets, then on to the train to London, then on the Underground twice, then on an overground train again and then in a taxi and that was just to get to the shoot. I had to do it all again to come home.) But everyone at the shoot was really nice.

The first person I met was Jan Lynegar, the Slimming World editorial assistant. She is a beautiful and tall blonde who looked like she should be strolling on a beach in California rather than standing in a small English house on a cloudy day. She was really nice and easy to talk with.

I was a little unfair on Jan in taking a photo of her while we were all eating, so the photo doesn't really do her justice. In fact, none of the photos I took today are very good, but I was trying to be as unobtrusive as possible, so I wasn't really setting up my shots.

Next, I met Vicky Burdon, the Slimming World art editor. She was really sweet. She's a petite blonde who looks like she would fit right in with the Dallas Cowgirl Cheerleading squad. (She helped me find the right Underground trains to take on my way home, even going part of the way with me.) I'm not surprised that she and Jan were so sweet though as everyone I have ever met from Slimming World headquarters have been really great.

This is Fay and Vicky. Again, I snapped the shot fo them while they were talking. If anyone I photographed today wants to send me a nicer photo of themselves for me to substitute for these shots, I will be happy to do so.)

I met a woman named Fay who was being photographed before me. She was great and appeared to be enjoying the photo shoot. They took some shots of her outside just before it started raining.

I got to have my make-up done twice (because it needed to match the color of my outfits). Liz Kitchiner, who did my make-up and hair, really knew what she was doing, because I hardly recognized myself by the time she was done. My hair was given two different styles. Liz even added some hair attachments underneath because my hair is a little on the thin side and she wanted to thicken it up. I got to wear it down with loose curls and also in a loose, low-lying ponytail to the side (also with loose curls).

This is Liz in front of the table covered in her equipment. Her hand is on the hairspray that she used. Every time she used it on me, she apologized for spraying "poinson" at me (because of the fumes).

Rachel Fanconi was the stylist who helped pick out the outfits, jewelery and shoes for me. She was really nice and had a great eye for what would look good. I also got to wear four separate outfits (all dresses with shrugs/jackets, complete with matching earrings, rings and high-heeled shoes). I got to wear a white dress with a purple flowers print. I got to wear a pale blue and soft brown patterned dress that was soft and feminine. I got to wear a dress with a sort-of golden brown color to it. It wasn't a dress I would have normally picked out for myself but I had to admit that it looked good on me. It had an unusual neckline. I also got to wear a white dress with green and black print on it with a matching green jacket.

This is Rachel amongst the clothes and going through some bags of jewelery.

We were all provided with sandwiches, fruit and diet coke/coffee/tea. The sandwiches were not Slimming World-friendly, but at least we had something for lunch. The fruit was really nice. There was a lot of sliced apple, some pineapples slices, strawberries, green grapes and more.

I didn't have to wear nylons because they rubbed a lotion all over my legs which turned them tan (temporarily). (I have some SERIOUSLY pale legs naturally!) It was fun to see the photos on the computer screen after they were taken and see how tan my legs looked compared to their natural look.

The photographer Paul Buller had a Canon and lots of equipment. Despite having to work with some not-so-great lighting conditions, he took some great photos. He gave me some instructions for my poses, and would have to pause in his shooting when either Liz would dash in front of me to fix my hair or make-up from time to time or Rachel would dash in front to straighten or adjust my clothes.

This is Paul, a top London photographer, but Paul didn't work alone. His assistant is pictured below.

It was a long day though. I got to the shoot at about 9:00am (I was early), and we weren't done until 5:00pm. I didn't get home until around 7:30pm. I left my overly glamorous make-up on for the trip home so that my kids could see it. I knew the girls would love to see their mom all made up. robert took a quick photo of me when I got home. (My hair was a mess by then though.)

I looked a bit tired, the make-up was starting to wear off and the lighting was not ideal for the photo, but here I am.

All in all, it was a fun experience and kind of nice to get pampered. I will be sent a copy of the magazine when it goes out and also I will get copies of the photos. I have to admit that I am a little excited about geting to see the results!

Our Moment On TV

2011-03-10T04:05:00.000-08:00

Robert, Cameron and I were on Daybreak this morning on ITV. If you are in the UK and missed it, you can view it here.

We arrived by train last night and we stayed at the Mint Hotel in Westminster. It had some beautiful views. We were treated to a meal in the restaurant and it was very enjoyable.

Our morning today started with an early wake up call. I'm glad we arranged for an early wake up call, because, although we were told we would be on at 8:30am and would be picked up from the hotel at 7:50am, we got a phone call at 6:45am telling us that our ride was already waiting. Apparently, there was a mix-up and we were supposed to be on at 7:15am instead.

We threw our clothes on and got Cameron dressed. And then we were on our way.

I realized when we got there that wearing a purple dress wasn't the best plan of mine, since the couches were also purple. We got our microphones put on and then I was informed that we were not supposed to mention Slimming World at all. And right after that, I was introduced and asked the question, "So how did you do it?" I tried to make it clear that I went to Slimming World without actually saying the word. I put emphasis on the word "Slimming" and spoke the word "club" very softly. And I mentioned that it was one that allowed me to join while pregnant (with doctor and midwife approval). I don't think there are any other weight loss clubs that allow pregnant women to join. I might be wrong though.

We were asked to stay on until the end, so we spent the rest of the time following Cameron as he ran up and down the halls and waved hello at people. At one point, he ran up behind the weather girl, Lucy Verasamy, who had just entered the hallway and he reached up with both hands and startled her by patting her bum a few times. (I apologized for him, the cheeky little monkey!)

While in the "green room" (where the guests wait to go on), Channing Tatum joined us for a little bit. I must admit, I wasn't sure who he was, but then Robert looked his name up on-line using his phone and we both realized that we had seen "Dear John" which he starred in.

We were brought back out to the couch at the end where everyone sat together.

Then we were taken back to the hotel, packed up our things and took the train home again.

When we got home, we watched the recording of the show. I immediately decided that I wore the wrong dress for it as it made my stomach look big and squishy (to my mind). And then I started critiquing other things about myself (my overbite, etc). Then I realized what I was doing and had to put a stop to it. Seriously, after all of the weight I have lost and all of the times I have worked on being confident and not letting that negative self-talk undermine me, I quickly had reverted back to it once I realized lots of others would see me on the tv. Old habits really do die hard, and it is something I will probably always be having to work through.

Still, it was a lovely day and a fun experience. I wish they'd asked Robert a few questions too though, as he has lost a lot of weight too.

I'm Going On Daybreak!

2011-03-07T14:18:00.000-08:00

If you are in the UK, you may have watched ITV's morning show, from 6:00am until 9:00am, called Daybreak. Robert and I, along with our two year old Cameron, will be on the couch on the Daybreak show this Thursday morning to talk with the show's hosts!

I have no way to record the show, which is disappointing, but I'm still excited about appearing on it!

We'll be talking about our weight loss. I'm a bit nervous about how Cameron will behave. At two years old, he could act like a complete angel or he could choose to behave as a complete little devil. We'll have to wait and see.

If you have the time on Thursday morning, tune in to Daybreak and you'll see us there!

I'm In This Week's Take A Break Magazine

2011-03-07T14:02:00.000-08:00

I am featured on page 28 of this week's Take A Break magazine (10th March 2011, Issue 10)!

They got some of the details wrong though. For instance, it says that I had Connor by cesarean, but I have never had a c-section, though I was threatened with having one. It also states that Robert and I met in a chat room, and that I had gone on-line out of loneliness, which is all incorrect, although Robert and I did meet on-line. The general gist if the story is correct though, and I believe they tried to get the details right.

The thing that annoys me about the article though is that they name the street we live on. The article talks about my kids and large family. It even names my kids. It shows a picture of my whole family, kids included. And then, as irresponsible as it is, it mentions MY STREET ADDRESS! And the thing is, my street address was not even germaine to the story!

I am not overly worried about it though as we are moving within the month, but if we weren't I would have been fuming.

Either way, it's fun being featured, so if you are in the UK, go have a look at this week's Take A Break.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T15:55:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

I know that some of you are worried that you will overindulge in chocolate or while eating a meal at a restaurant on this day, but I believe in moderation and in not having to give up anything completely. So go out and enjoy a light meal out, and let yourself have one or two chocolates. Enjoy your Valentine's Day, just don't let your eating get out of hand. And if you have not been as "good" as you think you should have been, you can always make up for it tomorrow.

Life has to be lived. Living for weight loss alone is not a life.

Healthy Cooking With Kids

2011-02-04T15:22:00.000-08:00

This was previously posted in the November 2011 issue of Beverly Hills Child Magazine where I write monthly about ways to ensure we raise healthy children.

One of the best and simplest ways to get your kids to eat healthier is by letting them help you make family meals. Children love to help, and they are more likely to eat food that they have prepared with their own hands and by their own efforts.
The following are some simple snack and meal ideas that children can help make.

1. Kebabs – Cut chicken or lean beef into large chunks, chop up some bell peppers into large pieces, set out a bowl of cherry tomatoes, chop up some onions into large pieces and set everything out with some skewers. Let your child push the pieces of meat, peppers, onion and tomatoes onto the skewers in whatever order they choose to and then grill them yourself. It’s a great way to help your child feel pride in helping you make the meal and also to get your child to eat vegetables (bell pepper, onion and tomato).

2. Dips for vegetables– Chop up carrots into sticks. Clean and prepare mushrooms and celery. Chop bell peppers into strips. Wash and set out cherry tomatoes. Then let your child help you make some dips. Use fat-free fromage frais or plain yogurt in several separate bowls and let your child choose which spices and seasonings to add to each one. You could have a jalapeno and cheese dip, using finely diced jalapenos and grated low-fat cheese, or you could have onion and chive dip by adding chopped fresh chives and finely diced onion. You could make a garlic and onion dip using garlic powder and onion powder. Your child might prefer a taco dip which would just take some taco seasoning. You can also have some dry soup packets, such as Lipton’s Onion Soup and add those to the plain yogurt to make a delicious and healthy dip.

3. Burgers – Finely dice onion and bell peppers. Let your child add the diced vegetables and whatever spices you wish to add to a bowl full of ground lean beef or ground turkey. Next, your child can use her hands to mash it all together and mix it up. Kids love the tactile sensations of getting messy while making this, and they will also enjoy patting the burgers into balls that they can then flatten onto a plate. Next, you grill the burgers and serve them on whole wheat buns with some lettuce and slices of tomato.

4. Peanut butter apple dip – This one is really easy to make. Let your child mix one 190g pot of fat-free vanilla or fat-free toffee yogurt to ½ cup of reduced fat and reduced sugar peanut butter. Once it is mixed until it’s smooth, give your child some apple slices to dip in it.

5. Healthy personal pizzas – Mix some tomato sauce with some oregano, a dash of salt, some garlic and a bit of pepper. Lay out some whole wheat pita breads. Prepare some low-fat grated cheese. Chop up some bell peppers and onion. Set everything out and let your child take a pita bread and top it to make his own pizza. Once he has added the toppings that he wants, just bake it for about 5 minutes at 250 degrees.

6. Fruit salad – Wash red grapes, green grapes, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries. Chop up some cantaloupe and honeydew melon into bite-sized chunks. Let your child choose which of the types of fruit that she wants to add to her own bowl of fruit salad, and then let her pour an individual-sized pot of fat-free yogurt, in a flavour of her choice, over the fruit. Using a large bowl, let her make a fruit salad with all of the left-over fruit to serve to others.

7. Healthy Strawberries and cream – Wash and slice strawberries into a bowl. Let your child sprinkle a small amount of sweetener over his bowl of strawberries. Open an individual-sized pot of fat-free vanilla yogurt and let your child add two tablespoons of sweetener to it and mix it well. Then he can pour the yogurt and sweetener mixture over his strawberries and enjoy it!

8. Mexican meatballs – Finely dice some spring onions. Put one pound of lean ground pork into a large bowl. Let your child pour a packet of taco seasoning into the bowl and then add the diced spring onions to the bowl. Next, let your child mix it all together with their hands, letting it all squish between their fingers. Then your child can roll the mix into individual balls, small enough to make 15 meatballs. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes at 300 degrees.

9. Pasta – This is very simple and once you’ve boiled and drained the whole wheat pasta, your child should have no problems doing the rest. Your child will just need to add two heaped tablespoons of extra light mayonnaise , a bit of seasoning and about a handful of low-fat grated cheese. If these are added right away, the cheese melts and sticks in a tasty manner to the pasta. You do not have to add vegetables to the meal, but throwing in some peas or corn will add nutritional value to the meal.

10. Jacket potatoes – You will need to prepare some toppings for your child to choose from, such as tuna and mayonnaise, baked beans, low-fat grated cheese, or other toppings. Bake your jacket potatoes after piercing them several times with a fork and spraying them with a low calorie oil spray. One hour at 300 degrees should be enough time for the potatoes to bake. Once the potatoes are removed from the oven, let them sit for ten minutes, the put a potato on your child’s plate and slice it across in two cuts, one horizontal and one vertical. Place the potato on its plate in front of your child and let them choose how they wish to top their jacket potato.

There are many ways to serve healthy meals to your kids, but letting them help and be a part of the preparation is the best way to insure that they will want to, at least, try the food they are helping prepare. In all of the above suggestions, let your child be creative. He might come up with ideas of his own that will help improve or change the meal. It’s important to give your child choices but healthy ones, so that she can feel that she has some control over what she eats, and you can be assured that, whatever she chooses, it will be healthy.

Philips AirFryer Review

2011-01-17T12:27:00.000-08:00

I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to review the Philips AirFryer, something I have really wanted to try out.

The AirFryer makes it simple to give food a "deep fried" taste without using a lot of oil. The instructions say that, if you are using convenience food (like frozen chips (french fries) or chicken nuggets for frying), you don't need to add any oil to it at all. When using fresh, homemade ingredients, such as potatoes that you've peeled and sliced yourself, you need to add a very small amount of oil. For 500g of potatoes, you only need to add 1/2 a tablespoon of oil.

According to the materials that came with it, the Philips AirFryer will save you 80% of the fat in your "frying."

The Philips AirFryer arrived encased in a lot of packaging, but I was thankful to see that it didn't contain any styrofoam in its packaging.

I was given this Philips AirFryer in exchange for my reviewing it, so I figured I had better try out both methods of cooking with it. First, I cooked up some "fry chips" from the freezer section of the grocery store.

It was really easy to make them. First you set the temperature.

Then you put the chips in the AirFryer.

And then you set the timer.

Halfway through the cooking, you take them out and shake them up and put them back in. It was a very simple process, and by the end, my kids had some delicious chips (french fries) that tasted, as my five year old kept telling me "absolutely delicious!" (She also told me that she really likes my new "thingy" that helped me make them.) Chicken nuggets and chips (french fries)ar enot the healthiest of foods, in general, but if you must serve them up, then cooking them without any added oil is a good thing. And the Philips AirFyer lets you do that while retaining that "deep fried" taste that you won't get from oven baking.

Having made the chips for their dinner in just 13 minutes, I then added some chicken goujons to my AirFryer. The chicken goujons came out perfectly too, and they were just as easy to "fry".

Having cooked convenience food in the AirFryer, I then had to see how well it worked with fresh food, so I peeled and sliced up some potatoes and went through the very simple process again. The chips (french fries) made with the AirFryer came out really well, although I may have cooked them a few minutes too long. They did have a taste very much like they had been fried, and I only had to use a fraction of the oil I would have had to use without it.

After I'd done all of the food for the night, I realized that the machine had come with a metal divider to be used when cooking two things at once, so I could have "fried" the chips at the same time as the goujons.

The Philips AirFryer also came with a recipe book. I love recipe books, and this one had some great recipes in it! I found out I can even make brownies in the machine, but I will more likely use it to make some of the healthier recipes that the cookbook contained. It has recipes in it such as "fish and chips," "crispy curry potato cubes with coriander salsa," "feta triangles" and "meatballs with feta," just to name a few. All of the recipes in the recipe book contain the nutritional values of the dishes.

Overall, I am really happy with the Philips AirFryer, and I am looking forward to making many more meals using it.

Skinny Dreaming Has Been Chosen As A Top Weight Loss Blog!

2011-01-10T11:20:00.000-08:00

Skinny Dreaming has been featured on Guide to Online Schools' list of the Top Weight Loss Blogs!

I'm really honored about this, especially after seeing the others who are included in the list!

I'm In The Mail On-Line Today

2011-01-09T13:51:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine pointed out to me that I am also in today's Daily Mail nespaper. It can only be found on-line at The Mail On-Line. I'm not actually in the newspaper on the stands.

Here is the link to the article.

And below is one of the "before" and one of the "after" photos that they used. All of us had to go to London by train on the 29th of December in order to have "after" photos taken of me with Robert and with the kids.

I Am In today's Sunday Mirror Newspaper

2011-01-09T09:39:00.000-08:00

I am featured on page 24 of today's Sunday Mirror newspaper. I haven't found an on-line version yet though.

Tips for Sticking To Your New Year's Resolutions

2011-01-01T11:18:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! I hope 2011 is going to be a wonderful year for us all.

It is that time of year again when everyone starts to think about what they have achieved over the past year and what they hope to achieve in the new one. A lot of people will make new year's resolutions now. And most of those people will not stick with them any longer than next month.

Just how are you supposed to go about making resolutions and then making sure you achieve them?

Here are some quick tips, just from the top of my head.

1. Make realistic resolutions. Don't over-reach your abilities. Yes, you might be able to lose the extra 100 pounds you want to lose, but you can't expect to lose them by March. You might be able to fit into those new jeans you bought (that are a size smaller) by March though.

2. Resolve to WORK towards your goals. You will never reach any of your resolutions if you are not willing to put in the effort and take the steps needed to get attain them.

3. Believe in yourself. It is very important that you believe in your ability to reach your goals. Without that belief and confidence, you run the risk of sabatoging your own efforts.

4. Surround yourself with people who support you and believe in your goals. There is nothing more helpful than supportive friends and family who believe in you. The last thing you need if you are trying to lose weight is a friend who encourages you to "cheat" or is always giving you chocolate and sweets or taking you out for fast food.

5. Reward yourself for every step closer you get to achieving you goals. It is easy, on a long journey, to lose sight of how far you have come and to instead keep dwelling on how far you have left to go. Try to focus on what you have already achieved and how it brings you closer to your ultimate goal.

6. Write it down. Don't just write down your resolutions, but write down each step you need to take to get there. Reference this note whenever you feel tempted to slack in your efforts. Also, journal your efforts. If you are exercising, keep track of how much you are doing. If you are eating healthy, track what you are eating. Writing things down has a sort of power over our subconscious.

Interview With BBC Wiltshire Radio With Shaun Hodgetts

2010-12-29T15:15:00.000-08:00

Robert and I were interviewed this morning on BBC Radio Wiltshire. They are doing a series on goals and resolutions in the new year and wanted to talk to us because of our weight loss.

Robert took a photo of me with Shaun Hodgetts (who was our interviewer), and you can hear the interview by clicking on the link below and fast-forwarding to 1:47 on the time of the recording. It will only be available to listen to for a limited time. (I think they only keep them available for a week.)

Click here to listen to our interview.

After the interview, we had to get home and get the family ready as we went into London for a family photo shoot which might appear in some magazines and newspapers sometime in the future.

It's been an exciting few days!

Are You Listening To Your Body?

2010-12-19T14:42:00.000-08:00

I have been hearing from friends who are trying to lose weight that they are proud of themselves for working out when they were not feeling well. Depsite feeling sick, they managed to run that mile or went to the gym or did whatever their normal exercise routine was, and, for this, they were proud of themselves. And they should be proud of themselves.

BUT

They should also be proud of themselves if they have taken a day off from exercising to wait until they feel better. They should also be proud of themselves if they have listened to their bodies' needs and realized that their bodies needed to rest.

I am just as guilty of making myself exercise even when I am ill. A part of me feels like I have let myself down when I skip exercising for the day, but I need to stop feeling that way. There is nothing wrong with resting when I am sick. In fact, sometimes resting is exactly what my body needs, and I need to listen to my body.

I have a really bad cold this week. It is not bad enough to keep me from exercising, but my kids aren't well right now either. Some of the younger ones have been taking turns keeping me up all night long. I'm really, really tired.

My body is telling me to take a day off from exercising, to rest. I am going to listen to it. Are you listening to yours?

Bee Healthy Forum

2010-12-02T11:49:00.000-08:00

My good friend Litia, in conjunction with her friend Valerie, just started a new weight loss forum called Bee Healthy.

It's up and running already, and people are busy posting to it and chatting about their weight loss efforts. Everyone there is really lovely and supportive. I just had to add a word here about them and suggest that, if you're still trying to lose weight, you go and visit the site. (You have to join in order to see more than just the introductions.) And if you are already at your goal weight but know what it is like to work to reach it, go and give the ladies there some inspiration.

There is another reason to go join the site if you are still on your weight loss journey. They have a weigh-in thread, and right now, they are two weeks into a 12 week weigh-in. I have offered up a prize for the person who loses the highest percentage of weight during the 12 weeks.

The prize is this Super Slimmer keepsake ornament from one of my Skinny Dreaming shops:

The terms are that you are VERY honest about your weekly weights, that you have a beginning and ending weight, that you MUST add your weight for the last week of the month, and that you must weigh-in for at least 6 of the 12 weeks.

I hope you choose to join in, and good luck!

Succeeding!

2010-11-29T15:17:00.000-08:00

I just finished participating in NaNoWriMo. The goal is to write 50,000 words of your novel within the 30 days of November. I still have one more day to write, but I have already reached 53,025 words. I succeeded at it for the second year in a row!

A few years ago, I would never have even attempted it. I did not have the confindence in myself or my ability to succeed at anything. It was as if the extra weight carried with it magical powers that made me think I was not good at anything and would never be able to achieve any of my dreams.

As the weight fell away, and I kept meeting weight loss goal after goal, the power that my fat held over me faded along with the fat's disappearance. I slowly started to believe in myself again. I started setting new goals that had nothing to do with weight loss.

I just wish others realized that they are capable too. We all have the power to choose to succeed. We all have the power to believe in ourselves and to reach for our dreams.

Don't let the extra weight have power over you. Believe in yourself!

Slimming World's Woman Of The Year 2010 Ball

2010-11-13T14:00:00.000-08:00

Today was Slimming World's Woman Of The Year 2010 ball. And, as I was one of the ten finalists, I got to go to the ball. :)

Sharon Painter, my Slimming World consultant, and her husband Quentin picked up Robert and me and drove us to Birmingham's ICC Centre which is where the ball was being held. We were staying in the Hyatt hotel across from it. Robert's and my room was on the 11th floor. We arrived at around 10:30am. I thought my hair and make-up appointment was at 11:00am, but when Sharon and I went to the 23rd floor for the appointment, I found out I was listed as having my appointment at noon. So Sharon, Sharon's husband and I got on the lift (known in the US as an elevator) and headed back down to my floor to pick up Robert, so we could all go out to get some lunch. There were a lot of people on the lift with us.

When we got off of the lift, Sharon's husband asked, "Did you know who that was?" I had no idea who any of the people on the lift with us were, but apparently one of them was Rio Ferdinand. For those of you in the US who are scratching your heads and wondering who Rio Ferdinand is, he is a "football" (i.e. soccer) player here who plays for Manchester United. Did I mention that people in the UK are football/soccer mad?

We went and got Robert and then got back onto the lift to head downstairs. There was a woman on the lift wearing large dark sunglasses who looked vaguely familiar. Sharon leaned towards her and said, "Your disguise is fabulous!" with a cheeky grin. She smiled and removed her sunglasses and chatted with us. It was Slimming World's founder Margaret Miles-Bramwell!

We walked outside and found a grocery store where we I bought two fruit salads and Robert bought some pasta and an egg and lettuce salad. Robert and I went back to our room to eat. I had brought some Slimming World HiFi bars with us as well as a couple cans of Sprite Zero.

Once we had eaten, it was time for my hair and make-up appointment. I went back up to the 23rd floor of the hotel. This time I did not meet any celebrities. *sigh*

The girls who did everyone's hair and make-up were very good at their jobs and everyone looked fabulous! When I got there, Julie was just finished having her hair and make-up done, while Harriet was getting her hair done and had already had her make-up done. Soon after, Jan Coupe arrived (one half of the two who won Couple Of The Year this year), and others I knew started arriving.

I had my make-up done, and then my hair done. The hairstylist decided, after my hair was curled, to sweep it up and to the side. She did a wonderful job with it. When she was finished she asked if I wanted her to spray some sparkle in my hair. She needn't have asked! Of course, I did! I'd already decided that this would be my night to shine!

Once done, I asked the artists who had styled us all if I could take their photo, and they agreed. I'd like to take this moment to thank them again for all of their hard work.

I went back to my room to change into my little black dress for the photos with Justin Lee Collins and Margaret Miles-Bramwell. Robert was not in our room. (I found out later he had gone to see "Despicable Me.")

I met up with Sharon. I had made sure to bring my camera along and took some photos while we waited. I took photos of Harriet Jenkins, Julie Cummings and Susan Melville. Harriet's consultant Joanna Mortimore was with her, and Julie was accompanied by her consultant Donna Shore.

Sharon, using my camera, took some photos of me.

And Julie took a photo with her own camera of Susan with me and one of me on my own.

Next we had the rehearsals. When we walked into the room it was already ready with the lights and the table settings.

We practiced the line-up of how we were going to walk onto the stage. We were told what songs would be playing when we walked out. (For me, the song chosen was "California Girls."And we were told the question that Juston Lee Collins would ask us (a different question for each of us). (I am laughing as I type this part, and you'll find out why later.) My question was about how Slimming World fits in with family life.

Then we were allowed some time to rest, so I went back to my room. Robert was there and he took some photos of me at the window to both show the view that we had and to show my hairstyle.

Then the fun part of the night began; I got to dress up in the dress I'd bought for the occasion! (I bought my dress at /Rosella's Bridal Gowns in Cirencester.) Robert wore a suit with dicky and bow tie. We went into a room where backdrops were set up for us to have professional photos taken. I may buy the ones we had taken at a later date and share them here, but as we knew those photos would have to wait, we took some of our own out in the hallway.

In the room where the photos were taken, this was the "bartender:"

(photo courtesy of Julie Cummings)

The fun thing about having my own blog is that, although I will be sharing photos of all of the final ten contestants and other Slimming World winners, I get to be the star here. I get to share as many pictures of myself as I want to. The irony about the fact that I want to share these photos of myself is that two years ago I would have been horrified at the thought of people all over the world seeing photos of me. I felt big and unattractive, and I preferred to be behind the camera rather than in front of it. But tonight, I suffered from none of that self-consciousness. I loved getting to dress like a princess. I loved how tiny my waist looked in the dress, and I loved showing myself off a bit for once! After all, how often does a 38 year old get to feel like a princess?

Next we all went into the ballroom and the night began in earnest. First, Margaret Miles-Bramwell came out and spoke to the audience.

Then our celebrity presenter, Justin Lee Collins, came out.

First out was Charmaine Coates. She is 33, 5'4" tall and has lost an amazin 9 stone 13 pounds (139 pounds). She is from Minehead, Somerset and her Slimming World consultant is Laraine Smith.

Next on stage was Julie Cummings. Julie is 36 years old, 5'5" tall and has lost an incredible 11 stone (154 pounds)! She is from St. Georges, Shropshire and her consultant is Donna Shore.

After Julie, it was Eileen Curoe's turn on stage. Eileen is 51 years old, 5'6" tall, and has lost a whopping 11 stone 3 pounds (157 pounds)! She is from Mayfield, Northern Ireland and her consultant is Dawn Richardson.

I was the fourth one to get to take the stage. Sharon and I had decided that, when we took the required pause as we passed through the heart-shaped entrance to the stage, she would hold up her hands up as if presenting me and I would twirl. Fortunately, I managed to do the maneuver without falling over. (Robert tried to video our entrance. It was taken with his phone and the quality is very poor. He says to listen to all of the shouts and cheers though. He says I had the largest cheering he heard that night, but our theory is that it was from the Bristol and Wiltshire district Slimming World ladies.)

For those of you who don't know, I am 38 years old, 5'3" tall (sometimes 5'2" tall depending on who is doing the measuring) and have now lost 10 stone 5 pounds (145 pounds). I am from Swindon, Wiltshire, and my consultant is Sharon Painter.

Just before we walked in, some of our story would show on the big tv screens against the wall. And the tv screens continued to show us once we were on the stage.

(photo courtesy of Clive Morgan)

(photo courtesy of Clive Morgan)

My question didn't really go as planned. I mentioned my seven children, which was pertinent to the fact that Slimming World fits in with family life, and Justin Lee Collins asked me to name them all. Normally, this would not be a problem, but, as I was on stage, I couldnt' believe it but I actually had to think about the names to bring them to mind! What a nightmare if I had actually forgotten my kids names! ;) I got a round of applause when I finished naming my children, and Justin pointed out that all I did was remember my own kids' names which was hardly a reason for applause. Hah!

Also having to do with family life and Slimming World, I mentioned that my husband had also lost a lot of weight (nearly 7 stone). Justin had me point Robert out in the audience, and when he saw him, he commented, "Oh, he's gorgeous!" Of course, I agree with him because Robert really is incredibly handsome. Then Justin asked him to come up onto the stage! Robert is definitely not shy, so he came right up.

One thing Justin could not have been aware of from way up on the stage looking down at Robert in the audience, is the fact that Robert is very tall. He's 6'8" tall. When Robert got up on the stage, Justin grabbed my hand and backed us both up as if fearful of Robert. (He wasn't really afraid, just surprised and working with it.) He commented that he felt like Frodo and Robert was Gandolph! I honestly was having trouble; my sides were starting to hurt because I couldnt' stop laughing.

(photo courtesy of Clive Morgan)

Of course, the fun wasn't yet over. Justin decided that, as gorgeous as Robert was, he needed to snog him!

(photo courtesy of Clive Morgan)

I am still hoping that someone in the audience caught all of that on video and will post it to YouTube sometime soon!

Then Justin asked me, "So what's next?" I could have said something about the children's novels I have written and am hoping to get published. I could have mentioned the two novels I am working on. I could have mentioned my blogs. I could have said something about one of the projects I am working on with my children. I could have soken about the magazines I have been writing health articles for. I could have mentioned my on-line businesses. There are a lot of things I could have spoken about to answer this question.

Before I tell you how I answered, let me explain something. I already knew that I was not going to win the title of Woman Of The Year 2010. Robert and I had already figured out who was going to win it. No, nobody at Slimming World let the name of the winner slip out. Robert and I both just happen to be really good at reading people and we made an educated guess that happened to be very accurate.

So I decided to be a bit cheeky with my answer to Justin's question. He asked, "So what's next?" and I answered, "Well, we were thinking of trying to win next year's Couple Of The Year title." Justin went along with it and presented us to the audience, saying, "What do you think? Couple Of the Year 2011!" I just might have a slightly devious streak in me!

Unfortunately, he forgot to ask Sharon her question about me, despite the fact that she had spent a few minutes figuring out how she was going to answer it. She was a good sport about it though.

After me, it was Gayle Gallagher's turn on the stage. Gayle is 35 years old, 5'2" tall and has lost an astounding 9 stone 5 pounds (131 pounds)! She is from Chester-le-Street, County Durham and her consultant is Suzanne Jones. Her husband got called up onto the stage too. He was so sweet. It looked as if he was a bit teary-eyed when he spoke of how proud he was of his wife.

Next up was Harriet Jenkins. Harriet is the youngest of us at only 25 years old. She is 5'9" tall and has lost an awesome 14 stone 12 1/2 pounds (208 1/2 pounds)! She is from Freemantle, Hampshire and her consultant is Joanna Mortimore.

Justin Lee Collins had been moaning about the fact that all of us who had come up on the stage thus far were all married. Harriet is single. And Justin was pleased.

Then it was Susan Melville's turn to come on stage. Susan is 43 years old, 5'5 1/2" tall and has lost a fantastic 10 stone 1 1/2 pounds (141 1/2 pounds)! She is from Dalkieth, Lothian (Scotland) and has a lovely sounding accent as a result. Her consultant is Fiona Neill.

Next up was Alison Murphy. Alison is 34 years old, 5'7" tall, and has lost an impressive 8 stone 5 1/2 pounds (117 1/2 pounds)! She is from Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire, and her consultant is Kim Osborn. These ladies are both great fun!

During Alison's interview that was being shown on the tv screen before she came out, she mentioned that she was a big eater. She innocently stated that she could eat her husband under the table. Justin picked up on that comment and had everybody laughing. I don't think he was prepared for the fact that both Alison and Kim could not only take his ribbing, but dish it back in just as funny a way!

The next finalist was Dawn Old. Dawn is 51 years old, a petite 5'1" tall, and had lost a wonderful 9 stone 11 pounds (137 pounds)! She is from Truro, Cornwall, and her consultant is Cherylyn Howard.

(The second picture of her up above is not the clearest, but I wanted to show you the assistance we got in walking down the stairs. I hoped to get a photograph taken with these bare-chested gentlemen, but for some unknown reason, they seemed eager to get away from the room (full several hundred woman) and they left promptly after the show ended.)

Next on stage was Jane Parry. Jane is 47 years old, 5'3" tall, and has lost an incredible 11 stone 3 pounds (157 pounds)! She is from Sedgley, West Midlands, and her consultant is Sue Rollason.

Once we had all done our stage bit and were seated again, it was time for the other Slimming World contest winners to make an appearance and be given their trophies.

First up was the Consultant Slimmer Of The Year, Sue Wright. Sue is 30 years old, 5'10" tall, and has lost 7 stone 7 1/2 pounds (105 1/2 pounds)! she is from Swadincote, Derbyshire and her consultant is Leigh Wright.

(I do not have a photo of Sue on the stage, so if anyone was at the ball and has one they could share with me so I could put it in here, it would be appreciated.)

Next up was the Top Target Consultant, Sylvia Rubery. Sylvia is 38 years old, 5'7" tall, and has lost 5 stone 1 pound (71 pounds)! She has kept the weight off for 6 years. She is from Worle, Somerset.

The it was Miss Slinky's turn on stage. Noelle Wilkinson is 51 years old, 5'7" tall and has lost 4 stone 3 pounds (59 pounds)! She is from Middlewich, Cheshire and her consultant is Sonia Nurse. Noelle absolutely looks decades younger than her age. She's gorgeous!

The next couple was a couple Robert and I had already met before when we competed in the Couple Of The Year competition and got through to the finals. Couple of The Year 2010 Jan and Alan Coupe looked wonderful tonight! Alan is 56 years old, 5'7" tall and has lost 8 stone 2 pounds (114 pounds)! Jan is 51 years old, 5'6" tall and has lost 8 stone (112 pounds)! Together, they have lost a combined total of 16 stone 2 pounds (226 pounds)! They are from Stubbington, Hampshire and their consultant is Christine Micallef.

Then it was time for the Greatest Loser Mike Smith to take the stage. Mike is 57 years old, 5'10" tall and has lost the astonishing total of 17 stone 1 1/2 pounds (239 1/2 pounds)! He is from Eckington, Derbyshire and his consultant is Lynne Riley.

Our next man up was Man Of The Year Stuart Howells. Stuart is 43 years old, 5'8" tall and has lost an incredible 12 stone 6 pounds (174 pounds)! He is from Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, and his consultant is Diane Williams. When Justin spoke with him , he mentioned that he runs a marathin every weekend. Justin didn't believe him and went into the audience to ask Stuart's wife Lisa about it. She confirmed that, yes, Stuart did run that much. When she spoke about all that her husband had achieved, she was so proud of him and she got really teary about it. She was very sweet and it was obvious how much she loved her husband.

(I did not have a photo of Stuart on the stage, so I grabbed this photo off of their Facebook page of he and his wife.)

Next up was Top Target Memeber Tracy Heighway. Tracy is 40 years old, 5'8" tall and has lost 6 stone 8 pounds (92 pounds)! She is from Chadwell St. Mary, Essex, and her consultant is Susan Simpson.

(I do not have a photo of Tracy on the stage, so if anyone was at the ball and has one they could share with me so I could put it in here, it would be appreciated.)

Last up was Young Slimmer Of The Year Kelly Meager. Kelly is 21 years old, 6 feet tall and has lost an impressive 10 stone 10 pounds (150 pounds)! She is from Canterbury, Kent, and her consultant is Sally de-Vere.

(I do not have a photo of Kelly on the stage, so if anyone was at the ball and has one they could share with me so I could put it in here, it would be appreciated.)

The it was time for the ten finalists to go back up on the stage with our consultants and wait for the winner of the title of Woman Of The Year 2010 to be announced.

Rebecca Wheatley, Slimming World's Woman Of The Year 2009, joined us on the stage with Justin Lee Collins.

Slimming World's Woman Of The Year 2010 is Harriet Jenkins!

Rebecca Wheatley crowned Harriet.

And then all of the 2010 winners joined us on the stage again.

(photo courtesy of Julie Ower)

I had a fabulous night. It was fun and memorable and absolutely delightful! If anyone from Slimming World headquarters is reading this, just let me say a really big THANK YOU!!!!

Running

2010-11-09T04:07:00.000-08:00

Robert and I recently took up running. We chose to start running because we already do a lot of exercise and consider ourselves fairly fit, and also because we needed a new challenge.

We spent four weeks running. For the first two weeks, we ran a mile every evening when Robert came home from work. It took us about 10 minutes, occasionally just under ten minutes.

For the next two weeks, we ran two miles every evening when Robert came home from work. It took us about 20 minutes, give or take a half second, to run two miles.

Even our eight year old daughter Gabriella started joining in. She'd run about a mile with us before it became too difficult for her, but she loved being a part of our running. And even though she dressed in crazy, bright colors and in patterns that clashed, we enjoyed having her company for the runs.

Running outdoors is very different from running on the elliptical crosstrainer. I can run 12 miles and spend an hour and ten minutes on the crosstrainer without getting overly tired and without any residual muscle pains.

When we started running those first one-mile runs, for the first week, my muscles screamed agony at me. In the second week, the muscle aches started to dissipate, but I still found it exhausting to do the running and ended my runs gasping for air every time.

And I found out something; I am not a lover of running. It's great to know that I can do it. And I even think I can handle running a 5K run without too much trouble. But I do not LIKE running. And if I don't like doing something, then it is not an exercise form I will be using for the long-term.

I didn't run last week. I'm going to start running again, only because I want to run the three miles and prove to myself that I can run a 5K and in a decent time. But then I doubt I will run much more after that.

Robert has gone on to run almost three miles now. He even runs sometimes on days when I don't. He started running because I wanted to try running, and it was something we did together. But now, he runs because, well actually, I'm not sure why. Maybe he likes it. Maybe he just thinks it's good for him. Maybe it's just a convenient and inexpensive extra form of exercise for him. And maybe he runs because he prefers it over using the elliptical crosstrainer. (He's never been a fan of that machine.)

The reason I am writing about this here is to point out that it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what form my exercise takes, as long as I am getting some exercise. It doesn't matter if I continue running, because I do a lot of other exercise each day. And it's important to do the things we love. Our daily exercise doesn't always have to be a chore. Isn't it better to look at it as something fun and invigorating? You are more likely to stick with it if you like it than if you hate it and look at it as a chore.

So what exercise do you enjoy? Swimming? Bicycling? Inline skating? Horseback riding? Running? Walking? Weight lifting? Tennis? Gardening? There are so many ways to get some exercise. What's your favorite? Ever thought of trying out something new?

Writing, Going To The Ball & Other Stuff

2010-11-08T03:18:00.000-08:00

I've been busy writing for National Novel Writing Month again, as I did last year. What that means for this blog is that my posts will be bit further between, but I will try and post here at least once a week.

This coming weekend, I will be attending Slimming World's Woman Of The Year 2010 ball with my husband. I tried on many dresses and finally chose one I found in a shop in Cirencester. I don't have it with me as it needed to be shortened for me (as dresses always do need in order to fit my short stature). It was supposed to be ready already, but I have had no call from the shop, so I will have to call them today and find out if my dress is ready yet. I am rapidly running out of time to have everything ready!

I will find out at the ball whether or not I have won the title. The competition is stiff, so I'll have to let you all know when I get home. I will, of course, share photos from the event and of me in my dress here when I return. I'll even tell you where I found my dress, and I cannot wait for you to see how amazing Robert looks in his suit.

We have recently received word that we may be moving, at long last, into a house that will fit our large family. We have been renting our current house for over eight years now, and it has not been large enough for our family ever since my 5th daughter was born. If things go as planned, we will be moving into a newly-built house by this January. We will still be renting, but the rent will be a lot less than the rent we are paying. The house has under-floor heating, so I won't have to worry about the room taken up by radiators, and it also has solar panels. We have been told that the solar panels actually will provide about 90% of our energy needs, so out utility bills should go down as well.

The one draback to the place, and it's a big one, is that it is in another part of town than we currently live in. We will be moving away from our children's schools and from our friends. We will be moving away from our neighbors, and we actually like our current neighbors. We will also be a lot further from our Slimming World meetings, so it will be a challenge to make it to the same one, and I don't want to change meetings. My Slimming World group members are like family!

I am currently attending two Slimming World meetings a week. I go to one for my weigh-in and another one just for the company. One of my good friends changed which meeting she goes to, and I won't get to see much of her if I don't go along. Besides, I usually walk in that direction in the morning anyway as part of my daily exercise, so I am not doing any more than I normally would. And maybe, by attending this much-larger group meeting, I can be of some help to others who are still trying to lose weight.

I think that is one of the most rewarding aspects of having lost so much wieght - being able to inspire and help others to do the same. I was inspired to try and lose the weight by two people I knew who had lost huge amounts of weight. Seeing them do it let me know that maybe I could do it too. It is a great feeling to know that my own weight loss might inspire someone else to lose their excess weight as well.

Slimming World's Woman Of The Year 2010 Semi-finals

2010-10-10T04:11:00.000-07:00

Today was the day of Slimming World's Woman Of The Year 2010 finals. It was a busy day and I might get the order of things slightly out of place, but I'll try and give a general idea here of what happened throughout the day.

The night before, I tried on the two dresses I brought with me. The blue one was lighter and would weigh less when I stood on the scale, but the black one was even more flattering to my figure because of its cut, so I wore the black one.

I got hardly any sleep the night before. I kept waking up every hour or so. I think I was subconciously worried about not waking early enough. My Slimming World consultant Sharon Painter (who drove me to the hotel and Slimming World headquarters) came over early in the morning to help me straighten my hair again. Then we left for Slimming World headquarters.

We had our photos taken with Ricky Whittle from the show "Hollyoaks." I have never watched Hollyoaks, but Ricky seemed like a really nice guy. He gave a little speech to us all. We took individual pictures with him, a picture with him and our consultants, and then a picture of all of us with him in the middle. (Slimming World will send us copies.)

Here are a couple of pictures I took while he was talking to us all.

Then we all were measured and weighed. I have lost ten stone (140 lbs), but when I weighed, it showed me as having lost 9 stone 13 1/2 lbs (1/2 pound up). I was actually really upset about that because I know I have lost 10 stone and I'm very proud of that 10 stone. It wasn't until after I had a cup of coffee and some fruit that I realized that I had forgotten to take off my jewelery before being weighed, and my bracelet-watch always adds half a pound to my weight all by itself. I wanted the scale to say I'd lost 10 stone, but I know that, at my official weigh-in tomorrow night in group, I will either be back at ten stone down or will be even lower in weight.

There were 42 of us there. We were divided into groups of nine to tell our stories. Then we got to have lunch. Lunch was provided by Slimming World's chef Jeff and his staff and all of the food was Slimming World friendly with the syn-values listed beside it. The food was delicious!

Then we went into the main room where we were all given our framed certificates. We waited while the ten finalists were announced. My name wasn't announced until around the seventh person, right as I was beginning to believe I wasn't in the final ten.

It was very exciting to be chosen for the final ten! We each got a check for £500. We will have to buy ball gowns to wear to the ball on November 13th.

Rebecca Wheatley (from the tv show "Casualty") was last year's winner and she was there to present us with our checks. Sharon took some photos with my camera of the ten of us being called to the front.

Then we had a short break and the ten of us returned to sit in a circle and tell our stories again. I feel as if I told two completely different parts of my story each time I told it. Five minutes is not enough time to tell the whole story. The second time around, I had to stop and take a breath and collect my thoughts for a moment part-way through telling my story. I always feel as if I have blown it by the time my time is up.

Sharon took a photo of us in the circle.

We had some profesional photos taken of the ten of us, and again, Sharon grabbed my camera and snapped a few photos for me.

Then we had quick make-overs with our make-up. That's when the long wait for my turn to be videoed began. Slimming World was making a quick video of each of us telling a small part of our stories, and they had to make the video clips one at a time. I don't think I even got in to make my video until around 7:30pm. In the meantime, we, the ten finalists and our consultants, all sat around chatting with one another and getting to know each other.

Sharon took a close-up of me after my make-up had been done.

Some great things that happened during the day:
1 - I got to see a lot of the people I remember from the Couple of the Year competition like Caroline and others and it was good to see them again. Some of them even remembered me.
2 - Our district manager (regional?) Tracey Hill sat at the lunch table with us and she is a very likeable person. It was nice getting to know her.
3 - I got to meet Julie Cummings in person who, until today, I had only known on-line. The irony is that we were put into the first group together and I hated the idea of being in competition with her (especially since she has lost more weight than me). The good news is that she was the other person in my group to make it through to the final ten! And she is absolutely lovely!
4 - I got to meet up with Jackie Ferguson who is someone else I knew from on-line. She works for Slimming World and she is an absolute sweetheart!
5 - I got to see Megan, Nicala and others from Slimming world headquearters who I usually just speak to on the phone.
6 - I got to hear some incredible stories from some amazing women who have lost a huge amount of weight and changed their own lives for the better.

Apparently, the winner has already been chosen. I really hope it is me, despite the fact that I met and liked every woman there and every woman there deserves to win!

We were told it is not decided on weight loss alone, but I think the amount of weight each of us has lost will play a big factor in the choice regardless, and there were about four women there who had lost more weight than me. I lost half of my weight while pregnant, but I still only lost 10 stone. (I can't believe I just used the word "only" in connection with a weight loss of that much!)

But don't get me wrong. I am happy right now and will be happy no matter what the result is. Everyone there deserves to win this and I do not envy the judges the choice they had to make.

None of us will know the decision until November 13th. The waiting will be fun because I will be finding and buying myself a ball gown, preferably something in princess (because I feel like one).

And I can't wait to share with you all about the ball when it happens!

(I just know I am going to post this and then realize a bunch of stuff I have forgotten to mention!)

Interview With BBC Wiltshire & New Hairstyle

2010-10-09T03:48:00.000-07:00

Today has been a busy one for me. It started with Robert and I getting up early to walk to Old Town where I was interviewed about my weight loss by Graham Rogers on BBC Wiltshire radio at 7:45am. It was a short interview, and afterward Robert took a couple of pictures of me with Graham in the studio.

One thing that caught my attention was that, when he was announcing that he would soon be speaking with me, he asked his audience if they would be getting in a little exercise today or relaxing with a full English fry-up of eggs, bacon and sausages. It caught my attention because it really isn't an either or question. People always seem to make the mistaken assumption that, in order to be healthy, they have to give up eating the things they love. Robert and I have a full English breakfast every weekend though. We grill our low-fat sausages and extra lean thick-cut bacon, and we "dry fry" our eggs, mushrooms and tomatoes. ("Dry fry" meaning that we use Fry Light instead of oil.) It's a delicious meal and we have never had to give it up in order to lose weight and be healthy.

Shortly after we had walked home from the interview, Paula came over. Paula is a Slimming World consultant. Her group meets in Abbey Meads (at the Abbey Meads school) on Tuesdays. She's also a hairstylist, so Sharon (my group's consultant) asked her if she would come and do my hair, preparing me for tomorrow's competition, and she kindly agreed.

I don't think I will be able to keep my hair looking as nice as she got it to look, so I made sure that my daughter Kayla took a picture of Paula and me once my hair was finished. She cut, styled and straightened it. I'm sure it will be completely frizzy by morning though. Paula is lovely and I am really thankful to her for coming over and cutting my hair. (I'll be sending the hair that was cut off to Little Princess Trust.)

Looking at my hair in the photo, I actually think I wouldn't have minded letting it get cut a little shorter, but I am happy with the results. I just wish I could take Paula with me to the competition to style my hair tomorrow morning! (I am so very NOT good at styling my own hair.)

Sharon will be coming by at 4:30pm to take me to the hotel near Slimming World headquarters in Derbyshire, so I can be ready for the finals in the morning.

Ten Ways To Exercise With Your Child

2010-10-05T13:20:00.000-07:00

This is an article I wrote for Beverly Hills Child Magazine in their September 2010 issue.

As parents, we can be full of excuses for why we aren’t getting enough exercise. One of those excuses, often enough, is our children. We say that we don’t have enough time to exercise because our children take up so much of our time. We complain that we don’t get enough time to spend with our children as it is so how are we supposed to give some of that time up in order to go to a gym?

But we aren’t the only ones for whom getting enough exercise is important. Obesity is becoming a growing epidemic in many first world countries, and it is up to us as parents, to make sure that our children don’t become one of those statistics.

So how do we give up the excuses and make sure that we, and our children, get enough exercise? Here are ten suggestions.

1. Take your child on a picnic at the park. Bring along healthy snacks. Picnics at the park are the perfect environment for playing, running and being active.

2. Take nature walks with your child. Children love to go for walks and try to spot different animals and birds along the way. It’s also a great way to spend some real quality time with your child while she talks to you.

3. Dance with your child. Turn on the radio or find a music channel on the television and let yourself be silly. It will get your child moving and also create a wonderful memory for your child in the process.

4. Plant a garden with your child. Digging in the soil, watering the plants, pulling weeds and pruning the plants is all physical activity that helps to raise the heart rate and makes a great way to exercise while helping the environment and, if growing your own fruit and vegetables, saving money too.

5. Play ball with your child. Something as simple as throwing a ball back and forth with your child is a great way to get him exercising without him even realizing that he is doing any.

6. Sign you and your child up to learn something new such as dance or karate. These clubs are great ways to exercise while learning a new skill and spending time with your child.

7. Have your child join a sports team such as soccer or baseball. Team sports are a great way for kids to get some exercise. Many team sports allow parents to volunteer as coaches, team moms or just to help out during practices, and going to your child’s games will show your child you support her. Don’t just sit and watch her play though. Follow your child up and down the field from the sidelines and cheer for her!

8. Walk your child to and from school each day. Walking your child to school each morning is a great way to spend some time with your child before the school and workday begins, and you will also get to hear about your child’s day while walking home. Not only that, but by not driving, you will be cutting down on pollution and creating less traffic congestion near the school.

9. Take your child swimming. Not everyone has a pool in their backyard, but there are many public places where you and your child can go swimming. If neither of you know how, then you can take lessons together. Swimming is a fun way to get some exercise that works out the whole body.

10. Just play. Kids love it when a parent is willing to run around and play games with them. Play a game of tag or “Duck, Duck, Goose.” There are so many children’s games that will get both of you active. Just get out there and PLAY!

Think You Suck At Weight Loss? Think Again!

2010-09-30T11:48:00.000-07:00

I recently had someone tell me that they "suck" at weight loss. It got me thinking.

I can relate to what they are saying, because, honestly, that used to be me. I used to suck at weight loss too. Until I didn't.

Finding Slimming World was an awesome moment for me, because it changed my life. Maybe I was just "ready" to change my life, so I found Slimming World at the right time, or maybe I wouldn't have done it without the lessons about healthy eating that I learned through my Slimming World meetings. Either way, Slimming World saved my life.

My health was going downhill very quickly, and making the changes I made, I believe, has prevented me from going to an early grave. And an early grave is exactly where I was headed if I hadn't made changes. I don't know why I didn't make those changes earlier. I don't know exactly what it was that finally made me stop and say, "I have got to make changes. I can't go on like this."

The health problems had been building for a long time, and yet, I hadn't made any changes earlier due to them. I had gone through two previous pregnancies with high blood pressure difficulties arising due to my weight, and yet, I hadn't made changes during either of them. I had lacked energy and had been tired for a very long time, but I still hadn't made changes.

I think it was the day that I walked through the doors at Slimming World that I really started to make real changes, changes that would save my life. The support I found there and the friendships I made there made it easy to stay on the plan. Each week, as I saw the weight dropping away, despite my being pregnant, I felt my resolve to complete this journey strengthening.

I guess the thing that really set me firmly on this journey was taking the first steps on it. With each new goal reached, each milestone achieved, the motivation to keep going got stronger and stronger.

So what is my advice to someone who thinks they "suck" at weight loss? Take the first step. And then take the second. And little by little, you might find out that you don't suck at it after all!

I'm On BBC Radio Wiltshire!

2010-09-27T11:26:00.000-07:00

I got called and asked to be an "expert" on BBC Radio Wiltshire about a scheme proposed to give money to people to get them to lose weight. (I said I was skeptical that it would work as those people wouldn't stick to it once they got the money and weren't learning anything about losing weight the right way; they were more likely to go on a fad diet and lose weight the wrong way just to get the money.)

You can find it here now (for 12 days). Just click on last today's date (27/09/2010) and fast-forward it 43 minutes.

I'm still giggling about being introduced as "Slimming World's super-duper weight loss person."

I'm In Today's Paper!

2010-09-23T15:31:00.000-07:00

The article about me and my weight loss was in today's paper! It was funny because I had forgotten to ask when it would run in the paper and only foound out it was in the paper today when people kept coming up to me (while I was taking the kids to school) and telling me they had seen me in today's paper.

I found where the paper kept the photos on-line.

This is the one they used (without the background) for the article.

Here are some of the others.

Getting Photographed For The Local Paper

2010-09-21T06:15:00.000-07:00

Today a photographer for our local paper came over to photograph me. I wore the same dress that I wore for the Woman Of The Year District Finals.

It was so strange and awkward being on that side of the camera. Usually, I am the one taking the pictures. Back when I was really overweight, I hated having my picture taken. I hated seeing what I looked like in photos, and I hated the idea that a photo of me would be a constant reminder of how big I was.

I don't mind having my photo taken anymore, especially now that the bit of loose skin I had on my arms has started to disappear and firm up, but I still felt awkward standing there posing for a picture. And to make matters worse, as I stood there in my dress and high heels, the photographer asked me to JUMP! Yes, I stood in the park, with curious dog-walkers all around and had to take several leaps into the air with my feet kicked up behind me and my arms stretched up high.

To make matters worse, I am FAR from graceful. In fact, the first jump I did, I fell when I landed. Yep, real graceful. The photographer also had to pause and wait every now and then as people out walking their dogs were stopping in the background to have a curious look at what was going on. We had to wait until they moved on.

The photographer also took some photos of me with my baby boy Cameron. (The other kids were all at school.) Cameron is great at being in photos. He just smiles his biggest smile, because he is truly happy when he knows he is the center of attention.

He was a very nice photographer and we chatted about California for a while. For some reason, people always ask me where I am from as soon as they hear me speak. And the ones who don't ask me where I am from, ask me if I am from Canada.

After all of the embarrassing photo-taking, I forgot to ask when the article is supposed to actually run in the local paper. So now I will have to check the paper until it turns up.

140 POUNDS LOST!!!!

2010-09-20T15:08:00.000-07:00

Tonight was a weigh-in night. I went to my Slimming World meeting already in a good mood because of winning the district finals of Woman Of the Year, but more good news happened while I was there!

I lost 1 1/2 pounds this week, which means I have now lost 140 pounds (10 stone)!!! To top that good news off, I also won Slimmer Of The Week this week and got to bring the bowl of fruit home with me.

Before going to the meeting, I had even more good news. I got a phone call from our local paper and I was interviewed over the phone about my weight loss. The reporter arranged to have the paper's photographer come out tomorrow to take a picture of me for the paper. I really hope that, if I do get written about in the paper, I can help inspire someone else who needs to lose weight. I hope they can see my before and after pictures and realize that they CAN lose the weight, that it is not an impossible task. As I keep saying, if I can do this, anyone can!

Slimming World's Woman Of The Year 2010 District Finals

2010-09-19T12:54:00.000-07:00

A little while ago in my Slimming World group, I won the Woman Of The Year title for our group. Today, I got to go to Bristol for the district semi-finals.

First off, my day began and, knowing they were going to be weighing me again when I got there, I debated spending some time on the elliptical crosstrainer in the morning, but, after being awakened twice during the night because of my children, I was way too tired, so I decided not to bother.

Last night, I had tried on a dress of mine. I had never worn this dress before. The last time I had tried it on, at the same weight I am now, it had been too tight to zip up. Now, even though I am still the same weight, I was able to zip it up, which shows me that all of my fitness and exercise is paying off in inches even when it's not paying off in pounds-off anymore.

The dress' pattern was not one that goes well with my coloring. I am very freckled and this dress was a leopard print. Fortune was with me in that my 16 year old daughter had the exact same style of dress in a different color. It had black and white stripes going down it. She was willing to trade with me, and the dress was flattering enough, so I decided to wear it today.

My Slimming World consultant came and picked my husband Robert and me up to take us to the competition. Once we got there, we weighed in and then were split into groups. There were 21 of us there, and we were split up into groups of 7 to tell our stories. We were given pieces of paper with numbers on them to determine what order we would speak in.

I drew number 4, so my turn to tell my story came fourth. I was nervous, and with only five minutes to tell my story, I felt like I had left a lot out. I tried so hard not to get weepy, but when I started to tell these new people my story for the first time and detail how poor my health was before losing the weight and how hard it was to be a good mother when I had no energy and was in pain with every step I took, I couldn't help getting a bit weepy thinking about it as I told it.

After telling our stories, we were sent out of the room to have some coffee or tea while the judges picked nine of us, three from each group, for the district finals. Then we all went back into the room where we were given plaques stating that we had made it to the district semi-finals. Then the nine finalists were called out. My name was the first one called out.

This meant that I went to sit in a circle in the middle of the room with the eight other finalists and we all had to tell our stories again, this time with everyone in the room listening. This time, the paper I drew said 2 on it, so I went second.

Some of these women's stories were so touching and really moving! Some of them had been through so much, and it was incredible to hear their stories of hope and how they overcame obstacles in their lives. It was an honor to be in the room with these other inspirational women.

I couldn't help being nerovus. Both times I spoke, it felt as though I had goofed and not done very well, but Sharon (my consultant) told me I had done fine.

Then we had to leave the room again and wait for the judges to make their decision. Only two would go through to the next round.

We were called back in and we all sat and waited. The first name was called, and she was a very pretty woman who had told a great story about her experience losing weight through Slimming World. The second name was called and it was me! I was so pleased and honored!

I got another engraved pen and paperweight, a framed certificate stating that I had won and an absolutely beautiful bouquet of red roses.

I had a fun day, made some new friends and now, I get to go to Slimming World headquarters in Derby for the Woman Of The Year finals. I am really looking forward to it. Some of you may remember that Robert and I got to go there for the Couple Of The Year 2010 semi-finals, got through the final round and then lost out to another deserving couple. We really enjoyed that and so I have a bit of an idea of what to expect this time.

Two things I want to remember about today:

1 - One of the women who got to come from one of Sharon's other groups was really wonderful and said that being shown my before and after photos and told about how much I exercise inspired her and is what really got her to start to exercise. That meant so much to hear! She said she will come to our later-at-night group soon and I hope she does!

2 - One of the members of my Slimming World group has recently joined to become a Slimming World consultant. Today I was informed that, during her interview, when asked what inspired her, she mentioned me and the weight loss I have achieved. That was so awesome to hear, and I will be sure to give her a hug when I see her tomorrow at our group meeting! (Everyone in our group are friends with one another. It's hard not to be friends with them all when they are all so terrific!)

(I am really so pleased and happy about winning this stage that I am over the moon and dancing around inside right now, but I'm still able (I hope) to maintain my outward composure, so you wouldn't know it to look at me.

Some photos from the day:

Receiving my award:

All of the semi-finalists:

All of the finalists (with the district manager):

The winners with their consultants:

The other finalist and me:

The judges and the "counters" (the ones who kept track of the time we had to do our speaking):

There were three of us there from three of my consultant Sharon's groups, and this is a photo of all of us with Sharon:

The important thing to keep in mind is that everyone there today, whether winning the competition or not, are winners for having lost weight and become healthier.

Ten Things Children Can Teach Us About Staying Active

2010-09-08T06:15:00.000-07:00

1. You don't need music or a dance floor to dance.

2. Skirts are meant for twirling.

3. Climbing trees and building treehouses is a great form of exercise.

4. You don't need a car to go places, all you need is your own two legs.

5. If you need to get somewhere fast, ride a bike.

6. Running is not just for exercise; it's also for fun things like playing tag.

7. Any hill, no matter how small, is great for jumping off of.

8. Water was meant for splashing in.

9. There is never a suitable reason not to climb on the climbing frames at playgrounds.

10. Never give up your sense of playfulness.

My Article In Beverly Hills Child Magazine -September Issue

2010-08-31T15:31:00.000-07:00

My article, "Ten Ways To Exercise with Your Child" is on page 34 of Beverly Hills Child magazine. (Just click on the magazine in the link and go to page 34.) This is the September 2010 issue.

Children's Voices

2010-08-19T05:00:00.000-07:00

In this post from MizFit, many of us were challenged to video our children while they answered what they thought the meanings of three words were. Those words were exercise, strong and support. I was supposed to post the results here on the 13th of August, but of course, I am rarely organized enough to do things on time, so I am now posting the video results 6 days late.

First, I interviewed my 7 year old daughter.

Then I interviewed my 5 year old daughter. She decided once the camera was on her that she really didn't want to do the video and had a bit of a tantrum, so I never did get her to tell us her thoughts.

Last, I interviewed my son who will be turning 4 years old in 11 days from now. I don't think he really knew how to explain the meaning of words, and he didn't really know what the word "support" meant, but at least he tried to give his answers.

Walking & Picking Fruit

2010-08-07T10:30:00.000-07:00

Robert and I went for a walk on a wildlife trail near our house. We had seen some fruit on the walk in the past, so we brought some plastic containers and bags with us and used our walk to look for fruit to bring home with us. I would have loved to have found some apple trees, but we didn't find any. We did, however, find plums and blackberries.

The plums were very small, just a little bit bigger than cherries. Despite their size, they were incredibly juicy and very sweet. We picked a huge bowl's worth of them.

It took us a while to find the blackberries. The first blackberries we found were not very plentiful, but we kept walking and took some paths that we don't normally take. Eventually, we came across loads of ripe blackberries. We ended up bringing home enough to fill two big bowls.

I would have to say that it was one of our most productive walks!

Obesity & Children - No More Excuses!

2010-07-28T14:46:00.000-07:00

This is a topic that is on my mind a lot as record numbers of children are becoming classed as obese in both America and in the United Kingdom. How can this happen? Aren't parents supposed to be in control of what food is in their home and how much a child is allowed to eat? Aren't parents the ones who prepare their children's meals? As parents, don't we love our kids enough to feed them properly with good nutritious food? Because that's what is comes down to. If you love your child, you will make sure that most of what she eats is nutritious and healthy, full of all of the nutrients and vitamins that she needs and lacking in things like sugar.

I know that, for some, it is not as cut-and-dried as that. I do know that it can be more expensive to buy healthy, fresh food. I know that our kids plead with us on numerous occasions to buy them sugar-laden food, and I know that for some parents, the time it takes to prepare a meal from scratch is a luxury they don't often have.

But I also know that some things in life are more important than all of the excuses that we rely on to keep us from feeling bad for not doing something. The health of our children should be a huge priority in our lives. And that means feeding them healthy meals and limiting the junk food they are allowed to eat. So here are some tips to help us make sure that we do everything we can for our children's health and that we keep those excuses at bay.

Excuse #1 - Healthy, fresh food is too expensive.

Solutions:

- Grow your own fruit and vegetables. You don't even need a yard of your own in order to do this. Some properly sized planting pots and hanging baskets can be enough to help you grow fruit, vegetable and herbs of your own.

- Re-use left-overs to create numerous meals from the same ingredients.

- Buy generic brands. Sometimes they are just as good as the more expensive brand name products, and the nutrition, in many instances, is just as good.

- Buy in bulk. Certain fresh ingredients can be bought in bulk and frozen in order to use later, and buying in bulk often costs less per item bought.

Excuse 2 - My child likes junk food, and they beg and plead for it all of the time.

Solutions:

- Be a parent. Part of being a parent is telling your children "no" when it is in their best interests. You don't have to eliminate junk food from your child's diet, but you should definitely limit it.

- Don't use sweets as a "treat." You don't want your child to be associating sugar-laden, non-nutitrious food as a reward or a special occasion, and giving it to him as a treat or a reward will just enforce the idea in his mind that good times equal sugar (or fast food or whatever unhealthy food you are using).

- Make sure your child can have nutritious fresh food on hand to take the place of the junk food they are craving. Fresh fruit is naturally sweet and filling at the same time. I know very few children who will turn down something as sweet and delicious as strawberries, for example, and strawberries are GOOD for your child to eat.

Excuse #3 - I don't have time to prepare healthy meals or to cook from scratch.

Solutions:

- Batch cook ahead of time. Take one day, maybe Saturday or Sunday (or whatever day you have the most free time) and cook the whole week's meals and then freeze it all, ready to be microwaved or reheated in the oven when you need it.

- Chop and freeze your fresh vegetables needed for cooking ahead of time. For example, if you will be making a lot of dishes that required diced onions during the week, then chop and dice some onion ahead of time and freeze it in freezer bags in the serving sizes that you will need for the meals.

- Measure out and portion your ingredients ahead of time. For example, you can do this with grated cheese. To keep yourself from using more cheese than a recipe calls for, measure out the portions you need into individual bags and store it in the fridge (or freezer) ready to use.

- Use your crockpot (slow cooker). If you wake up early enough in the morning, you can prepare the entire meal and start it cooking before you even leave the house for work in the morning, and by evening, a hot, healthy meal will be ready for you and your children. (Also, by then, the house will smell delicous!)

These are just a few solutions. I hope they are helpful. I'll tackle ways to help your kids be more physically active in a later post.

And Life Goes On

2010-07-15T05:07:00.000-07:00

I think this is the longest I have gone without posting to this blog since I started it. Part of the reason is that my laptop, which is my main computer, was away for a while getting itself repaired , and before that, it sat waiting for the manufacturer to come and pick it up while its screen remained completely dark no matter how much I tried to get it to work. Now, I still could write on my blog (and any of my other blogs) from one of the many other computers in the house, but I just didn't feel right sitting at a different computer. It was as if the words wouldn't come because I was in unfamiliar territory. I think I still managed to write a bit on my blogs during that time, despite how foreign it all felt.

So here's where I tell you the obligatory list of all of the things that have been going on while I've been quiet.

I've been working on some recipes for my Skinny Dreaming Recipe blog. It wasn't easy because our oven wasn't working properly and the fuse kept blowing out on it at random times. But I believe I have come up with some recipes that you will enjoy, and now that my computer is back, I will start adding them to the healthy recipes on my recipe blog. I plan on adding some recipe cards for you to buy here as well. Just check back in a few days' time!

I have fallen behind on adding some interviews from inspirational people who've lost weight to my Super Slimmer's blog. This has happened for various reasons. One person is having trouble finding some before pictures to add to her interview. (I hope she finds them soon, because her story is an amazing one!) One person sent me before and after photos but has not returned the interview questions yet. And one person just let me know that the interview questions never reached her, so I will be resending them today. The good news is that those three people are lined up to share their interviews about their success, and you are going to love their stories!

I've started trying to learn to draw and sharing my attempts in a new blog called Designing Doodles. I have never had a natural talent for drawing or art, but I believe that if I practice a lot and read up on techniques and keep at it, I may eventually develop some sort of style of my own that will be worthy of using to illustrate the children's books I have written.

My children's stories are for young children and have themes with lessons in them, such as appreciating the family we are given, finding out we love the life we have now, and learning to live a healthy lifestyle, and they are all magical tales with fairies or mermaids or other fantasy beings.

My 3 year old son told me his first two stories ever, and I am very proud of him! His stories can be viewed at Imaginative Minds: Writing By Children. He told a story about a boy who walked a long way and wanted some toys that he couldn't afford, and he also told a story about a boy who loved dogs, especially his own dog.

My 7 year old daughter and 3 year old daughter had their Sports Day at school and yesterday had their Summer Concert at school. The Summer Concert had a Disney theme. Isabella's class performed to a Pinnocchio song and all of the girls dressed up as fairies while the boys dressed up as Pinnocchio. Gabriella's class sang a song from Mary Poppins and they all dressed up as chimney sweeps. It was fun to watch, and I could tell that the children all enjoyed performing. I'll be adding photos from both Sports Day and the Summer Concert to my personal blog later this week.

As has happened for many people in the past few years, finances have become an issue for me lately, so I have been brainstorming money-making ideas. I have decided on several products for kids that I will be adding to offerings at Your Kids' Creations' in the next few weeks. Feel free to check in their next week and see what gifts have been added.

I've also been debating buying a domain to keep all of my shops and blogs in one place. I have 18 blogs and even more on-line shops. A part of me thinks it might be easier to maintain them all and for my readers and friends to access all of it if I can keep it under one umbrella domain. I just haven't been able to come up with the name for it yet. Making it more difficult to think of a name is the fact that my blogs and gift designs range from writing, dieting, princesses, fairies, families, cats, photography, recipes, reviews, writing by children, art by children, drawing, self-improvement, comics, fairy photography, dream journaling and more. If anyone has any name suggestions, I'd love to hear them!

My 17 year old daughter spent a week in France on a trip with her biology class. While she was away, Robert and I missed one of our Slimming World meetings. I hate missing meetings. It's weird, but the weigh-ins at the meetings really help keep me focused and on-track with my eating and exercise, and I look forward to the meetings as a social outing. I consider most of the people at my meetings friends, so I look forward to seeing them each week.

I am writing for the Examiner as the Saratoga Fitness Walking Examiner. It's a bit of a struggle though, because my articles there are supposed to be regional for the area of Saratoga, California, and I no longer live there. So if you or anyone you know live in the Saratoga area and do a bit of walking, I'd love to interview you for a future Examiner post.

I am still maintaining my target weight, and I am still exercising regularly. Our elliptical is starting to have problems. We were offered an exchange because this one is falling apart so soon, but the one the company wants to change it for is not as good as the one we have, and we thought about changing it for a rowing machine, but, at 6'8" tall, Robert's legs are too long for the rowing machine that would be in the right price range. We are currently trying to get the company to send someone out to repair the elliptical crosstrainer instead of exchanging it for something else.

So please tell me in the comments what you have been up to during these past couple of weeks.

Walk Your Daughter To Work Day

2010-07-07T12:57:00.000-07:00

Today is Walk Your Daughter To Work Day. I can't help but wonder how many people will actually take part in this today. I thought it might be a good idea to help parents make the choice to walk their daughters to work with them today by listing some reasons why it is a good thing to take part in.

Walking is healthy for both you and your daughter. The effort of walking helps with circulation and benefits the heart.

Walking with your daughter is a great way to bond with her. It gives you extra time with your child and allows your child to talk with you. It's a great way to learn more about what your child likes, and, in my experience, children tend to open up and talk quite a lot when out walking with a parent.

Walking with your daughter is a great way to show your child, through your actions, that health and fitness are important to you. Children learn best through the examples that we show them.

Taking your daughter to work with you helps her get to know you better. It's a way for your child to learn a little bit more about what your day away from them is like.

Did you participate in Walk Your Daughter To Work Day?

Signs Of Life

2010-06-24T09:08:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine (Kayecee over at Life Over Here) posted this to Facebook today, and I instantly knew I had to share it here. All The Wrinkled Ladies by Anita Renfroe, although seemingly tongue-in-cheek, could actually speak to a lot of women and how they are feeling about their bodies.

I was overweight, seriously overweight, for more than a decade. Once I lost the weight and saw my body once again minus almost 140 pounds in excess fat, I noticed some changes. Some of the changes in my body are the result of having carried and then lost so much weight. Some of the changes are the result of having given birth to seven beautiful children. Some are simply the results of aging.

But even as I work to eradicate some of the changes, as I try to firm up as much of the muscle underneath the loose skin as I can, as I hide my skin from the damaging rays of the sun behind sunblock and hats, and I work to maintain my weight loss, I know that some of the changes are permanent. And I'm okay with that.

The wrinkles next to my eyes and near my mouth are signs that I have had laughter in my life. The stretch marks that crisscross and reach across my belly like a road map are signs that my belly made itself into a temporary home for each of my children before they were ready to come out into the world. The tiny bits of grey showing up along my hairline are a sign that I am no longer a child and have the experience that comes with age.

My friend Barb from Barb's Bookshelf, said it best in her post about True Beauty when she wrote,

True beauty is not simply what’s on the surface. When you feel good about yourself and who you are, when you carry yourself with confidence and self-acceptance, that makes you beautiful. Beauty is in the mind, not in the body.

(I've borrowed this quote from her before, because it is so appropriate and reflects something that I believe in very strongly.)

So are you accepting of your body as it is? Or are you waiting until you achieve that ever-elusive, perfect body?

AmericanSoda.co.uk - Review

2010-06-15T13:15:00.000-07:00

I had the good fortune of getting some free goodies from American Soda in exchange for reviewing them here. I got in touch with them for the opportunity because I really love shopping with them.

As many of you know, I am a displaced American. I was born and raised in California, but am and have been living in the UK for over eight years now. One of the difficult things in living so far away from home is that I miss a lot of the food that I used to be able to get back home but is not available in stores here. That's where American Soda comes into the picture.

At American Soda, I can buy many of my childhood favorites, such as the ones sent to me for review: Lucky Charms cereal, Hershey's chocolate, Angel Food Cake Mix, Nabisco Honey Maid Graham Crackers, Jell-O Pudding and Diet Mug Root Beer.

Lucky Charms is in no way, shape or form a health food. It is very high in sugar. But I remember it from my childhood, and I loved it as a child. My children, who are notoriously picky when it to comes to cereals, all love Lucky Charms too. Most of the time, instead of giving it to them for breakfast, I just put a small amount of it into a small bowl or cup and let them munch on it dry as a snack. For me, since I believe in moderation and in allowing myself to eat small amounts of the things I love, I occasionally allowed myself (while the box of Lucky Charms lasted) a half-serving which equalled 55 calories (3 syns). This way I catered to my cravings but didn't ruin my diet. (I lost a pound this week, so it didn't hurt my weight at all.)

To see what my youngest four children thought of the cereal, in their own words, go to Children Review's blog post on the subject.

My favorite of everything sent to me was the Diet Mug Root Beer. Even in the US, it is sometimes hard to find the diet version of Mug Root Beer. And buying root beer of any kind in the UK is nearly impossible. Mug is my favorite and one of the things I sorely missed when I moved out here. I missed it so much that on the rare occasion when a family member from the US flew out for a visit, I always made sure they'd bring a 12 pack or 24 pack of Diet Mug Root Beer with them! I love to sit and relax with a can of Diet Mug Root Beer. I'm just sad that they only sent me one!

I wanted to mix some vanilla extract and sweetener into some 0% fat Greek Yogurt and freeze it, then try adding a scoop of it to a glass of my diet root beer to see how close it came to tasting like a traditional root beer float, but they only sent me one can, and I drank it straight away. For people on low carb diets, they can add some cream to a glass of diet root beer and get the same foamy flavor of a root beer float as they would get with a traditional one. And for people who prefer their root beer caffeinated, American Soda also sell Barq's.

As for the graham crackers, they are whole grain and low in fat. My kids love to eat them plain or to make s'mores out of them using marshmallow cream and Hershey's chocolate and then heating it for about ten second in the microwave, but I didn't have marshmallow cream (although that too can be bought at American Soda), so they didn't get to do that. What I like to use the graham crackers for is to make a healthier version of pie crust. It's especially tastey made into the crust of a healthy pumpkin pie (I use the pumpkin pie I buy from American Soda) or a healthy cheesecake. You just add an ounce of light margarine or low fat spread to about ten crumbled and crushed graham crackers, mix it up and spread it into the bottom of a pie tin. Then refrigerate it for a few hours and it's ready to add your pie or cheesecake filling to.

The Angel Food cake mix I have bought in the past. Last time I bought it, I made Angel Food cupcakes, topped them with frosting made with greek yogurt, quark, sweetener and vanilla extract, and then added some strawberries to them. I took them to one of my Slimming World meeting's Bring & Try nights, and everyone loved them! I made 40 cupcakes with one mix, and they were only about 2 syns a cupcake because Angel Food cake is fat free. And an added bonus is that my children also loved them!

I have yet to find any cake mixes in UK stores that are fat free like this one is! Angel Food cake is a very traditional American cake that can be found at almost every supermarket in the US, either pre-baked in their bakery section or in mixes for you to make yourself. It makes a great cake for making a healthy strawberry shortcake.

With the Betty Crocker Angel Food Cake mix sent to me this time, I plan on making a slightly different dessert. I was also sent Jell-O Fat Free Chocolate Instant Pudding mix. I'm planning on making the cake, cutting it into pieces, putting the pieces into bowls and then pouring some of the chocolate pudding over them. When I get around to making them, I will take some photographs and add the recipe to my recipe site.

I was also sent something that I have never tried before. American Soda sent me a small bag of Sugar-free Hershey's chocolate minies. Robert tried one and seemed to like it. I loved it, although I did think it tasted a bit more like dark chocolate than milk chocolate, and I noticed the texture was just a tiny bit more waxy. My friend Helen tried one and she said she loved it. They were only 31 calories a piece, so that would be about 1 1/2 syns each on Slimming World.

When it comes to interacting with their customers and being responsive to their customers requests, American Soda is one of the few companies I have found that really gets it! They are on Twitter and on Facebook, and in both places, they offer coupons, respond to customer requests, and generally show truly wonderful customer service. There is another on-line company where I can buy my much-missed American goods here in the UK, but they are not nearly as interactive, and in this way, American Soda has made itself stand out.

Keep an eye on Skinny Dreaming Recipes over the next week as I will be adding some recipes created using these products as soon as I can make them and take photos of the results.

*I received a product for this review on behalf of the company. All opinions are solely my own. Others who may use this product or service may have different opinions.*

Finding Time For Walking Despite A Busy Schedule

2010-06-11T15:33:00.000-07:00

Walking is one of the easiest ways to exercise throughout
the day. Experts recommend taking 10,000 steps a day for optimal health benefits. You don't have to set aside a large chunk of time and go out for a long walk to get your walking fitness done. There are some easy ways to fit walking into a busy schedule.

Park at the far end of the parking lot when going to work or shopping. You can even park a block away. The few minutes that it will take you to walk that little bit further will increase the amount of steps you take for the day without eating into a large bite of your time.

Use the stairs. If a building you work in or a store you visit has a choice between stairs or elevator, take the stairs. You'll get a quick boost to your heart rate and help get more of your daily steps completed.

Take short ten-minute walks. Just go outside and walk around the block or walk around the building you are working in. Doing this a few times a day adds up to a lot of walking without interfering with your other daily activities.

Walk early in the morning or late in the evening. Setting aside time to walk before your day has begun or once your other activities have been completed means you can spend more time just walking and enjoying the sights around you.

Walk your children to school. Cars can be a hazard near schools anyway, so take the simple approach and walk your children to school. It will help with traffic congestion around the school and will benefit your children’s health as well as your own. If you live too far away, just drive part of the way to the school and walk the rest.

Kebabs!

2010-06-09T11:33:00.000-07:00

A cookbook arrived in the mail today. It was addressed to me and it came from The Book People, a book company that I have ordered from in the past. It did not say who bought it and had it sent to me, and I don't remember ordering it. It must have been a gift from someone as the price was zeroed out on the ordering form. It was a really pleasant surprise!

The book is a cookbook called Kebabs & Other Light Grills. Robert and I cook a lot, so I had a look through the book. Most of the recipes look very healthy and light, so I will definitely be cooking from it soon!

I'm only mentioning it here to let you know that there may be some new kebab recipes being added to my recipe blog soon. (I will add the recipes that we try out, if they are healthy enough.)

Thank you to whomever sent this to me!

Prioritizing

2010-05-30T08:33:00.000-07:00

"Losing weight is not your life’s work. Your life’s work is to love, to serve, to be honest, to develop personal integrity, to be kind, to raise healthy children, to grow spiritually, to adore yourself. Which is not to say you can’t choose to shed some excess baggage. You’ll just do it with a sense of perspective." ~Lisa Turner

I cannot remember which blog I read this quote on, only that it was written by Lisa Turner. But regardless, I felt the need to share it. It explains so well where I am at in my weight loss journey right now. Yes, I am already at my goal weight, so it's easier to say I don't need to make losing weight my "life's work," but that isn't the point. It has never been and was never meant to be my life's work. I never intended to put losing weight on the top of my list of priorities, and whenever it started to feel like that was what was happening, I would make efforts to reign that urge in.

Losing weight was meant to enhance the rest of my life. Being healthy, fit and active was only a means to an end, a way to be present for my kids in the long-term and capable enough and with enough energy to cope with their needs. Being fit has meant being able to go on long walks with my husband (who has always loved walking and hiking). It has meant I have more energy and better confidence in myself.

It has meant a lot of things in my life, but it was never the be-all and end-all of my existence.

Please don't let it take over your life either. Let your healthy lifestyle and the excess weight you are losing enhance your life, but not become your life.

11 Things You Can Do To Help Lose Weight

2010-05-25T05:06:00.000-07:00

1. Write everything down that you eat. It will help keep you mindful of what and how much you are actually eating. Be completely honest.

2. If you're counting calories, don't count the calories in most fruit and vegetables, so you can eat as much of them as you want. (I love, love, love strawberries.) It'll help you choose to eat more of these nutritious foods. Remember some fruits are better for weight loss than other fruits. (For example, while bananas are a healthy food to eat, they are not particularly helpful in weight loss, but strawberries are a great weight loss aid.)

3. Make sure you include some fat-free dairy in your diet. Studies have shown that including more non-fat dairy in your diet, such as the dairy found in non-fat yogurts, can aid in weight loss.

4. Limit your breads, pastas, rice and flour products, but when you do have bread or burrito shells, go for wholegrain ones as the extrta fiber in wholegrain breads, rices amd pastas will help with digestion.

5. Do have desserts, but get creative in cooking up healthy desserts, or buying low-cal versions of things you hate doing without. Telling yourself you can't have nay desserts will just make you start craving them more, but by allowing yourself the occasional treat, you avoid making desserts become too much of a temptation.

6. If you're buying low fat products, check the ingredients. Sometimes "low fat" just means "high sugar." Better yet, stick to naturally low in fat, high in protein foods.

7. Eating things like bacon, ham, beef, pork, chicken, turkey, lamb, etc is fine as long as you go with lean versions or extra lean versions. Lean meats are an excellent source of protein, and protein tends to keep you feeling full for longer than carbohydrate-laden foods.

8. As often as possible, cook your food from scratch. This way you know what's in your food. The more processed something is, the less healthy it probably is. Once you start cooking more, it can be fun to experiment with healthier cooking.

9. Don't obsess. There will be times when you eat something bad for you. Do not see yourself as a failure because of it and then go on to eat more junk. See those times as a momentary blip in your healthy eating plan and go right back to eating healthy. Don't let yourself feel out of control.

10. At meals, fill your plate 1/3 full with vegetables/fruit, then add your meat & whatever else to the space that's left. If you are really hungry and need seconds, that's okay, but do the same thing again (filling plate 1/3 with vegetables).

11. Get some exercise. Even if it's just a bit of walking, it will help your heart and aid in upping your metabolism.

The Courage To Dream

2010-05-06T04:20:00.000-07:00

Empowerment

What does the word mean to you? I’m not asking about anything related to electricity or turning your washing machine on. In regards to you as a person, what does the word empowerment mean to you? Do you feel empowered? Or do you feel weak and helpless?

The reason I am asking this is because so many of my friends seem to be embracing the idea of being powerless about making changes in their lives. They have dreams, but they feel as though everything is against them achieving those dreams and that they have no say in whether or not they can make those dreams a reality.

I hear from them, over and over again, phrases such as, “I wish...”, “I can’t...”, and “If only...” I never hear positive phrases such as “I will...”, “I can...”, and “I am...” But in speaking in the negative tones that they speak in, they are, in fact, ignoring any power they have over their own situation. In not even considering the chance that they can do something to change things, they are making themselves helpless. But they don’t have to be helpless, and neither do you.

What is it you want from life? Is it to lose weight and get fit and healthy? Is it to write the next blockbuster novel? Are you unhappy in your current career and want to change it? Do you want to earn a better income or take a trip across the world? Nothing is out of your reach! What do you dream about doing? Tell yourself that you are going to do it! Wouldn’t it be great to empower yourself? Wouldn’t it be great to feel strong and capable and in control of where your life is heading? Wouldn’t it be great not just to have the courage to dream but to have the courage to grab for those dreams too? The only things that stand in the way of your dreams becoming a reality are the limits you place on yourself. And you can remove those limits with nothing more than a thought!

The first step is to have the courage to dream. Make a list of the things that you really want in life. What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail? Write it down! Have you always wanted to take a vacation in Ireland or Hawaii? Have you always wanted to own your own house? Do you want to lose weight or build up muscle? Are you a banker but always dreamed of being a teacher? Write it down!

The second step is to believe that you are capable of achieving that dream. Sounds simple, right? The good news is that it really is that simple. Believe in yourself. Believe in your abilities. Tell yourself you are strong, capable and even fearless if the need arises. You can do this. You will do this. You will make your dreams come true. Get rid of that negative little voice in your head that whispers to you that you can’t do it, you’re not strong enough, it’s too hard and all of the other negative words. Just ignore it. You know, deep down, that you can achieve your dreams, so follow that deeper inner voice and believe in yourself.

The third and final step is to decide what steps you need to do to achieve your dreams and then take those steps. If you’re dreaming of becoming a novelist, then you need to start writing. You need to set aside time every day to write. Maybe you need to fine tune some of your writing skills so taking a class would help. If you’re dreaming of being a teacher, then you need to get the requisite training and degrees, even if it means taking classes after work while you continue your current job. If you dream of taking a trip to Europe, then you need to find out what it will cost you and start setting aside money from each paycheck. If you dream of owning your own house, then you need to clear your debts, clean up your credit history and save up the deposit. If you want to lose weight, then you need to find out what diet and exercise plan will work for you and you need to start doing it. Fit in exercise every day. Eat less junk and more healthy food. For whatever your dream is, you need to start working in the direction of making that dream a reality. Stop defeating yourself with negative thoughts and empower yourself, not just with positive thinking but with your actions.

You might be asking yourself why I care whether or not you reach for your dreams. I care because I used to feel powerless. I used to feel like all of my dreams were just out of my reach and that there was nothing I could do about it. I used to feel as though I wasn’t strong enough or good enough or capable enough to make my dreams a reality. But all along, I was deceiving myself into inaction. And I don't want anyone else to go through that, to live through feeling helpless when there is no need for them to feel that way.

When I finally started to take charge of my own inner voices, when I started to tell myself that I could achieve my dreams and when I started taking the steps that were necessary to get to my goals, I began to empower myself. And one of those dreams has already come true as a result. And now that I know that anything is possible, that I am capable of making my dreams come true, look out World!

Finding The Fun In Exercising With Your Children

2010-04-27T11:21:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, Robert, the children and I all went for a picnic in the park. Our friend Helen came too and brought three of her four children. She also goes to Slimming World with us, so we made sure to pack healthy food for our lunch.

It was a wonderfully fun day out in the sunshine, and we found various ways to get some exercise that felt more like fun than exercise. I, for one, was walking around after the children all day trying to capture photos and video of them, so I got a lot of walking done that day. (I also got a mild sunburn, despite the sunblock I had applied before we went out.)

Here is a short video clip showing just a small amount of the many ways we found to exercise without feeling like we were exercising. Helen rolled down the hill with the kids, Kayla (one of my teenage daughters) chased after little Cameron, Robert carried Cameron on his shoulders for a bit of weight training, and Helen pushed the children on the swings. There were lots of other ways that we played with the children and managed to be exercising at the same time, but the video would have been too long if I shared them all!

What things do you do with the kids that could count as exercise?

Super Slimmers!

2010-04-20T08:23:00.000-07:00

A lot has been going on here at Skinny Dreaming in the last week. First off, Skinny Dreaming is now on Facebook, and is just a small number of fans away from reaching 100 fans! Please go and fan Skinny Dreaming over there and help us reach 100 fans!

Second, Skinny Dreaming has started a new page that's all about inspirational stories from people who've beat the odds and lost a lot of weight. It's called "Super Slimmer's." My hope is that these interviews from Super Slimmers, along with their before and after pictures and words of wisdom will help inspire you and anyone who needs inspiration to stick to a healthier lifestyle. I know, for me personally, it was the stories of others who had managed to lose a lot of weight and set themselves on a healthy lifestyle that helped to inspire me to achieve my own weight loss.

With that in mind, Skinny Dreaming is looking for future Super Slimmers to feature! Are you a Super Slimmer? Want to be featured on Skinny Dreaming's Super Slimmers? If you're selected to be featured, you will get a Super Slimmer mug for the month that you are featured in. Criterea: Must have before and after photos and have lost at least 50 pounds (3 stone 8 lbs). Just e-mail me through the e-mail link on the sidebar here and put in the subject line "Skinny Dreaming's Super Slimmer Interview." Go ahead and take a peek at the Skinny Dreaming's Super Slimmers site now. You can even "follow" it if you want to be updated when new interviews are added.

Our first Super Slimmer interview is already posted and available to inpsire you! Jennifer lost over 160 pounds and her interview is a must-read!

And third, several more recipes have been added to Skinny Dreaming Recipes, so go and have a look and see if there is anything there that you might like to try. Every recipe added to the site has been made and tasted by myself and my family before being added.

Skinny Dreaming Is On Facebook!

2010-04-13T07:28:00.000-07:00

I've added a page for Skinny Dreaming over on Facebook. Please go and become a fan!

So far, it's just a bare bones version, but I intend to add recipes soon and links to informative posts from all over the Internet. I'll also do occasional giveaways from the Facebook page.

Let me know in the comments anything you'd like to see at Skinny Dreaming on Facebook.

Also this week, I'll be featuring the first of Skinny Dreaming's Super Slimmers! It's a woman who's lost over 160 pounds, and hopefully, I will be able to share many more inspirational stories like hers in the future with you.

Exercise & Daily Life

2010-04-10T13:00:00.000-07:00

Robert and I went for a lovely walk in the sunshine today. Mercury, our dog, loves it when we take him to the park with the lake; it's only about two miles to walk to it from our house. We usually walk all the way around it and around the lake before cming home, and today was no exception.

Because it was so bright and sunny outside, we decided to bring the camera. We took some photos of Mercury and, when we passed by some sheep, I couldn't resist taking some photos of the little black lambs.

Why am I telling you about this beautiful walk? Because I want to share the concept that exercise doesn't always have to be a chore. You can find ways to fit exercise into your day that won't feel like drudgery, that you won't want to hurry through to get over with.

I exercise on the elliptical crosstrainer almost every day. I used to hate it. I couldn't wait to just get it over with and done so I could enjoy the rest of my day. But then I taught myself how to read while using the elliptical crosstrainer. In my daily life, it is usually hard to find time to read, and I love reading. So now, I look forward to my time on the crosstrainer as it is time I get to spend reading.

Yesterday, Robert and I took the children to a play center with lots of climbing, sliding and tumbling types of play areas for the kids to play in. Between us, we had to do a lot of lifting of the baby and following the kids around, helping the younger ones with some of the equipment. It was fun and it was a form of exercise.

Taking the kids to the park afterward, Robert pushed them on the swings for a while and then helped to spin them around the the merry-go-round. Again, it was enjoyable time spent with our children, and it was a form of exercise.

There are many enjoyable ways to fit exercise into your day. What are some ways to exercise that you find enjoyable?

Maintenance Mode

2010-03-31T12:45:00.000-07:00

As some of you, having read previous blog posts, know, I reached my target weight in February. Since then, I have been doing really well at maintaining my weight. But there is one thing I am still having to work on.

I can't seem to get my mind out of the "I need to lose weight" mentality. Gaining a pound here or there and then dropping back down only to go up and down again is NORMAL when maintaining. As long as my average weight stays the same, it should be okay and even expected. Slimming World allows for my weight to fluctuate up and down 3 pounds either way from my target weight, so I have SIX WHOLE POUNDS that I can play with.

And yet, I get upset when my weight fluctuates up even the tiniest bit, even when it is still a bit BELOW my target weight, as it is now. It's as if, having worked so hard to get here, I just can't let go and let myself relax about it all now. And yet, I NEED to relax. I need to get my mind into a place that can treat this whole thing as a part of my day to day life, rather than allowing for the stressful worrying about Monday's weigh-ins.

I still intend to GO to my Monday weigh-ins, as I see those weigh-ins as a way of keeping myself accountable and not letting any gains get out of hand. But I need to be able to relax a bit throughout the rest of the week.

I'm working on it.

Why?

2010-03-25T13:52:00.000-07:00

Over on Jack Sh*t's blog, he posed a sort of challenge. He explained the reason for it as this:

The posts that I find the most interesting, the ones that I seem to get the most out of are the ones where the writer explores the why's of this whole deal: why did I get the way I was? why did I make the change? why is this time going to be different?

Everyone's got their own "how", but the "why's" always seem to be singular and unique.

So he posed the question:

I’ll say it to you: tell me “Why”…

Why do you suppose you let your life be less than you imagined it to be?

I like the way this question is phrased, because that is exactly what those of us who've let ourselves gain too much weight and become unhappy with our bodies and unhealthy have done to ourselves. We've "let" our body be less. When I was younger, I had never imagined myself as ever letting myself become as overweight as I eventually became.

And my answer has to be, "I don't know." I really don't. There are lots of reasons in my life that my weight may have crept up. My genetic make-up played a factor, surely, but it wasn't the only reason; in fact, it was probably only a tiny fraction of the reason. I struggled with my weight as a teenager, but only within a 20 pound range that I kept going up and back down within. It was nothing like the struggle and the weight gain I later suffered.

I know that when I was ten, my dad said offhandedly, "You're starting to look a little chubby." That was the first time I became aware of my weight. I was already 5'2" tall back then (and still am today), and I weighed around 115 pounds, so I definitely was NOT chubby in the slightest. But of course, I believed I was chubby from that point on. I'll never know what prompted my dad to say that. I love him dearly, but no parent is perfect, and I doubt he even remembers saying it.

Later, I married young (19), and I was very unhappy in my marriage. I was not treated with respect and my partner was usually angry. I believe that I began eating for comfort back then. The marriage didn't last long, and, three children later, we divorced. Life got better for me in some ways, but worse in others. I was a single parent and my finances were a constant struggle. On top of that, I returned to my university education. This brought new stress into my life, so food remained my way of comforting myself.

Eventually, I met the love of my life and remarried. Life was and is so much better for me, but the bad habits of eating junky, unhealthy food and eating too often, plus my occasional binge-eating was all too much for me to break away from. I was used to eating the way I did, so I continued eating the same way.

Why do you stumble so often despite all your good intentions?

Old habits are so hard to break, and sometimes the memory of a certain food that I used to love eating with abandon is almost too much to resist.

Why do you sabotage yourself?

There are days when I am tired and can't be bothered to do the right thing, to make the right choices. Maybe, in the past, it was because I lacked the confidence in myself that I could achieve a slimmer body and healthier lifestyle.

Why are you here anyway?

I have seven beautiful, amazing, intelligent, creative children and a wonderful husband. They love me, and because of their love and my love for them, I owe it to them to keep myself healthy and to prove to myself and to them that anything can be achieved with hard work.

If you’re making it, if you’re succeeding on this weight-loss journey, tell me why this time is different than all the others. Why are you going to make it this time when you’ve fallen short before. Why are you going to keep it off this time when you’ve gained it back before.

I'm not sure why this time is different. I've made it to my goal weight, and just the act of getting to this place has instilled a greater confidence in myself and my abilities. There was a time when I doubted I could lose the huge amount of weight I needed to lose, but now, almost 140 pounds lighter, I know that I am capable of amazing things. And I am not going to let go of that feeling, ever!

Why are you a different person now than you were before?

Pick one: confidence, belief in myself, a feeling of accomplishment. Somehow, the light finally went off in my head and I know that this healthier, slimmer me is the outside appearance of who I am on the inside, not the frumpy, overweight, lethargic person I used to be. I have a belief in my capabilities now when I used to always be filled with nothing but doubt. I've learned to tune out that doubtful, negative inner voice now, and I've started listening to the positive, cheerful, inspirational inner voice instead.

So, I hope that answering these questions posed by Jack Sh*t helps you feel like you know me just a tiny bit better than before you read my answers.

If there's anything else you'd like to know, feel free to ask me in the comments.

Happy Mother's Day

2010-03-14T06:55:00.000-07:00

Today is Mother's Day in the UK. Happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers out there!

My 16 year old daughter decided she wanted me to get dressed up today and go to the park so she could take photos of me. I think it was just payback for all of the times I have made her and the other kids do the same!

I actually wore a red dress too. I rarely wear red because, in general, I don't think it is a good color with my red hair and freckles. But I think it looked okay this time. The wind was blowing my hair all over the place making it look really messy, and it was really, really cold. Not to mention I did not have a red bra to wear underneath, so my black bra showed up a bit. And yes, I am very, very pale.

Before all of that though, my younger kids woke me up in bed to bring me their gifts and cards and to bring me breakfast in bed (cereal). Gabby bought me a notebook with a matching pen. Isabella bought me a little figurine of a blonde girl which had a cute saying about mothers on it, and Connor bought me the same but the figurine was of a little boy. Victoria showed up with a tiny stuffed beanie Eeyore that was wearing a dinosaur costume. I got cards from everyone.

Not one person bought me chocolates. I wonder why that is. ;)

Actually, Connor made me a little paper purse at school that had two Thornton's chocolates in it. The problem with it was that he brought it home last Wednesday and, between Wednesday and today, he ate the chocolates.

So far, remaining at my goal weight has not been easy, but it's manageable. I'm still hoping for the day when it all comes more naturally to me.

Fairy Magic Photos Opportunity! Possible Freebie!

2010-03-13T06:42:00.000-08:00

Fairy Magic Photos is giving a few people an opportunity that can't be beat! If you'd like a Fairy Magic Photo of your own, now is your chance as they are looking for 10 models for advertising. Please go to the discussion board at Fairy Magic Photos' Facebook page and let them know if you would like to be considered. Remember moms these pictures could be of your children. Or you could have a fairy photo created of you!

My husband is the artist that creates these photos, and when he decided to offer this chance, I had to share it with my readers, because these pictures are a $75 to $150 value! There are some conditions, but it's still a really great chance for a Fairy Magic photo of your own!

Photos From Our Visit At Slimming World Headquarters

2010-03-12T16:31:00.000-08:00

Slimming World sent Robert and me a wonderful photo of the two of us from the finals for the Slimming World Couple Of The Year 2010 competition. We received the photo on Wednesday, and we received the jpeg image today, along with a picture of us with our consultant Sharon Painter and a photo of the winning couple.

I thought it would be fun to share our photos with you.

This is the winning couple:

I'd share their names and amount of weight loss with you, but I am having trouble finding anything about them on the web at the moment. Maybe Slimming World is waiting for the magazine featuring them to come out?

If my memory is correct, all of their children are grown and they were suffering with some very serious health issues before they lost the weight. And they had lost over 15 stone (over 154 lbs) together. They have really done well and should definitely be proud of their accomplishment!

Slimming World's Couple Of The Year 2010 Finals!

2010-03-08T09:56:00.000-08:00

Robert and I just got back from Slimming World's Couple Of the Year semifinals. We sat in a group of 6 couples and all told our stories. There were three groups of six couples.

Six couples were chosen from those to go on to the finals. Robert and I made it to the finals. We didn't win. (Darn it!) But the woman in charge of today came over to us and told us how much she had wanted us to win too and that we were a VERY close second. She said it was extremely close.

The winners won £3,000 and an appearance on GMTV's morning show. They also will be doing other interviews and tv appearances throughout the year and will be featured in the Slimming World magazine. The couple who won had lost a combined weight of over 15 stone (over 210 lbs) together!

I wish we'd won (especially knowing how close it was), but it was still a really fun experience, and we heard lots of inspiring stories. We got to stay in a lovely hotel overnight, and we used their gym facilities to get in a really intense workout last night.

After taking a train ride to get there yesterday, our Slimming World consultant Sharon drove us home today after the event. And when we got home, our kids had surprised us by cleaning the house! They all said how proud of us they were despite our not having won.

Slimming World's Greatest Loser Competition

2010-03-01T11:28:00.000-08:00

I won the Greatest Loser competion for my group again this year. I've still lost more weight than anyone else in our group. I even lost another half pound this week.

We just had a Bring & Try at our last meeting, so we were given the option of bringing food to share tonight or not. Most of the members of our group didn't want to do it again so soon. Helen, Sarah, Robert and I all made dishes to bring and shared them amongst the four of us. I made Mexican Pasta. Robert made High Fiber Scotch Eggs (with lean bacon mixed in). Sarah made quiche. And Helen made Cinnamon Raisin Muffins. All the food was delicious.

Even more fun than winning though: I wasn't sure if I had anything nice to wear that would fit, so I went into my 15 year old daughter's room and tried on one of her dresses. I'm wearing it in the photo!

Here are some photos of me taken tonight at the meeting.

I REACHED MY GOAL WEIGHT!!!!!!

2010-02-22T22:58:00.000-08:00

I lost my last 1/2 lb this week to reach my goal weight! I now weigh 135 lbs (9 stone 9 lbs). With my starting weight of 272.5 lbs (19 stone 2 1/2 lbs), I've lost total of 137.5 lbs (9 stone 11 1/2 lbs)! I've officially lost more weight than I weigh! Woohoo!!!!!!!

Now on to maintenance!

I went to extremes with my eating and exercise in order to get the last (stubborn) ten pounds off (not recommended), so I'm expecting my weight to fluctuate up and down as I try to normalize my eating and exercise over the next few weeks, but as long as I stay within 3 pounds either way of my target weight, I'm still considered as being "in target" and don't have to pay for my Slimming World meetings.

I've also vowed to myself to no longer be ruled by the scale. I will now be judging my weight by how my clothes fit and how strong and healthy I feel.

This opens a whole new chapter for me in my health and fitness journey. I will be looking towards strengthening myself and toning myself now.

Am I worried that I'll put all my weight back on? Not really. I worry that I will put more weight back on than I want to, but I know I'll never let myself gain back too much of this weight or get anywhere near as heavy as I used to be. It feels too good to be at a healthy weight!

Fitting In Exercise With Family Life & Work (Guest Post)

2010-02-18T09:32:00.000-08:00

I asked my husband Robert (photo above), who has lost over 84 pounds himself (6 stone), and only rarely uses my elliptical crosstrainer or Wii Fit, to explain how he fits exercise and fitness into his daily schedule with the responsibilities of work and family life. (For those of you who don't know, we have 7 kids.) You can see an occassional post by Robert on his family life blog, Baby Blues. (and pester him to post more on it, please) and you can see some of his wonderful photography at his photo gallery.

Lots of people ask how is it that I do all the exercise I do and fit it in with my work and family life as they do not have the time to apply the same effort that I do.

I have often thought on this and realised that two things help to free up so much more time for doing the healthy option and these are a family that usually works as a unit and simplifying my daily activities.

Becky asked if I would write a piece on fitting in exercise into my working day and I must admit it took a second or two to understand exactly what this meant as I always thought that in general it was the time I spent exercising away from work that was the most effective, so rather than a list of exercises and times achieved, I decided to write a diary entry for the typical day to day activities and healthy alternatives that I do to keep my weight down.

Six a.m. the alarm wakes me from my slumber, and I stumble out of bed to wake my 16 year old so she can take her dog out for a walk before getting ready for college. I pass my wife on her way to the Wii to do her early exercises as I hop back into bed for the next hour and snooze whilst listening to the local radio morning hosts go in about traffic problems and traffic jams. At around seven thirty my seven and four year olds jump on the bed beside me to do their daily reading, and then I rise for the second time to weigh and have breakfast.

Breakfast for me consists of high-fibre serial, additional powdered bran, sultanas, sliced banana and a fat free yogurt; I would put in more but as it already spills over the edge of the bowl it is kind of difficult to think how. This is then followed by two eggs on a slice of toast; the eggs can be scrambled, poached or, as long as it’s with a light oil spray, fried. If I am still hungry then I also have an apple or a low fat fibre bar.

By now Becky has fed and dressed the three little ones while I shower and shave having run up the stairs as I am behind the time as usual.

As I leave home to take the kids to school, I wave hello to my neighbours, who are fitting child seats and strapping kids into seats whilst throwing school bags into the backs of cars and driving off to drop the kids off, and I walk at my 4-year-old’s leisurely pace along the half mile pavement to her school where along the way I wave hi to my neighbours, who are parking cars on cluttered road sides, unpacking their kids from their cars and collecting bags from the back of their cars, and enter the school grounds where I drop off each off the little ones, checking that they are signed in, lunches placed on shelves and books put away. After I sit with my daughter and “Wow!” at her interesting colourings or chat with her teacher about after school clubs, I plug my headphones into my ears and walk the three miles to my office, having plenty of time to think about what the day may offer or issues to resolve, only stopping to wave to my neighbours who toot their frustration at the traffic jam they now sit in (obviously they didn’t get time to listen to the traffic reports this morning).

Arriving in the Town Centre, I pop into my local Starbucks, and I am greeted with the customary hello and beverage, an Americano venti with an additional shot, plus one on the house for that really great caffeine kick (I guess I come here far too often). As I walk into my building, I wave hello to my neighbours as they rush by from parking their cars on their way to work. I work on the fifth floor so I greet my colleagues in the elevator foyer and pass the time of day until the lift arrives. At this point, I take the stairwell and run up the stairs to the second floor where the delivery reception has our office milk supply, collect our two litres of milk and then run up the stairs to the fifth floor, slightly out of breath but concerned to hear from those arriving in one lift that the other has broken down again and Jinni or Jenny or Jimmy is going to be late as they are stuck in it.

The morning ritual of “check in” with my fellow colleagues now commences while we wait for our computers to grind their own morning rituals of updates and security policy checks and again remember which post-it note stuck on the monitors is our current password and then ring the helpdesk as after three different passwords we are locked out; my colleagues and I swap stories about their great nights out that in truth get a bit hazy after ten o’clock, and it takes several of their friends to fill in the blanks leaving them a little blushed.

Of course by now the customary cakes and biscuits now litter the tops of the stationary cupboards and post area tables. Not bad considering most of the people in my office are all on long term diets and cannot figure out why they don’t lose the weight, even though they spend three hours a week in the gym before they go out to get sloshed with their mates.

Hey you make your choices.....

After checking my e-mail I then go in my morning rounds of visiting the senior managers and directors to discuss their business whilst drinking tea and coffee, this done by walking from building to building and taking the stairs; the Council has many offices and buildings, and most of these are around the shopping plaza (pedestrians only) and about half a mile apart. There are a couple of sites that are a mile or two away but several cycle and footpaths connect them, and, as most people take the spider web routes by car, these tend to be pleasant walks where only the distant beeping of horns from traffic stuck in queues disturbs my journey.

As lunch time arrives, I pop into the local greengrocers or supermarket to purchase fruit for my mid-day snack and return from my walk carrying a couple of heavy bags up the stairs to my office where people marvel at my serving bowl of melon, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, banana and kiwi which is topped with a fat free chocolate yogurt and a sprinkling of high-fibre muesli and agree to me making them a small bowl too where, once they have eaten, proclaim themselves full and wonder how I can eat my very large bowl of the same stuff. “It’s all the exercise I do at night,” I proclaim as I bring out two large bowls of apples, pears, bananas, oranges, plums and peaches, one to share with the office and one for my desk, which I promptly start to munch my way through as I write up my business reports and e-mails for the day.

Pretty much the same goes on for the rest of the afternoon with meetings and typing, munching and drinking coffee and then often the running, yes the running, to and from the toilet ( I really drink too much coffee).

Often when inspiration is required, I will go for a walk around the offices of the block and jog up to the ninth floor and down to the third several times as I pop into the offices of my business support colleagues.

The day then comes to a close and as we all get up to go, turning our computers off in order to, as the poster says, save seventeen thousand cooked chickens a year or five microwave dinners from being unboxed and microwaved. (Who it is that does all this because I leave my computer on is a mystery and why they do it every night I do not know.) Actually as a “Green Champion” for the council most of my office friends have now been beaten (metaphorically speaking, well in most cases anyway) into keeping their computers switched off at night and the last one turns the light off, which our cleaner hates as it leaves him in the dark (not metaphorically speaking) but I do love saving those microwave meals from being cooked.

Well getting back to my day, about now I plug my headphones back in to my ears, turn up the music, tuck my hands into my pockets as it’s usually raining or cold, and start the three miles walk uphill to my home. This walk actually takes less time even though it’s uphill as the rewards at the end of this trip are far greater. In these winter evenings my street is so dark as I walk to my home as most of my neighbours are still in their cars heading home, but there is always a warm glow from our home and squeals of delight as I enter the home (from the children mostly).

In general, I walk over nine miles a day just going and returning to work. In most cases, I take no longer than my colleagues in getting from one meeting to another, although those pesky cyclists are beginning to show me a wonderful technological advancement called the bicycle that apparently will move me from one place to another in half the time; golly what next?

Keeping healthy and fit is very important to me at forty five as I love the time I get to spend with my family from the one year old through to the seventeen year old and of course my wife. Dieting is not starving yourself but eating smarter. Nature does not in general create waste so sticking to that simple premise I can eat as much of what I want, I just have to make sure I do not mix the wrong types of food together. Fruit and vegetables can be eaten by the casserole dish load and eggs are great as filler for those times I feel like I need a small snack. Pasta, rice, pulses all good and meat is great as long as I keep away from the fats. Steak and chips often appear on my daily menu, and Saturday I lose weight with sausage, bacon, eggs, beans, mushrooms, tomatoes and a slice of toast for lunch. All of this only works when supplementing an active life. The body will only convert all of this food to energy if you get off your butt and wiggle it.

Half The Woman I Used To Be!

2010-02-15T23:06:00.000-08:00

I thought my chances at having large losses during the week were over, but this week I managed to lose four pounds! I needed 4 ½ pounds lost to reach my goal weight, and even though I didn’t get that extra half a pound, I feel really good about getting a four pound loss this week!

My weight had jumped up earlier in the week, and I was struggling to get it to come back down. Nothing I did seemed to be working. At one point, I became so frustrated about it, I prayed that God would just take the weight off of me. I’d been working so hard at it with very little result, and it just didn’t seem fair. I woke up the next morning with the extra weight almost completely gone.

I continued to exercise and eat healthy, and I hoped for the best. And I am really happy to say that I now weigh 135.5 pounds (9 stone 9 ½ pounds) now, and I am only half a pound away from my goal weight! I know I will get that half a pound off this week, and it means that I will reach my goal by the deadline I set for myself. I wanted to get to my goal weight by my birthday. My birthday is on February 27th, and the next weigh-in is on February 22nd.

I’ve now come down 8 dress sizes. I have lost more than 50% of my starting weight! I am finally in a healthy BMI for my height. I keep telling myself that, if I can do this, I can do anything. I have so many dreams that I want to make a reality, and I know I have the willpower to achieve them now! And I hope others who are struggling with their weight can look at the amount I’ve managed to lose and see that they can do it too.

Robert wrangled the “Slimmer of the Week” title off of me by managing to lose 4 ½ pounds this week. It also put him back in his target range (2 ½ pounds away from his target weight) which means, since he’s been “at target” before, he no longer has to pay at our Slimming World group meetings. (Once you hit your target, you can be three pounds below or three pounds above it without having to pay.) He’s hoping to get those last 2 ½ pounds off this coming week.

I’m just so excited about the idea of finally getting to my target weight! I am really looking forward to the next weigh-in now!

I knew this year was going to bring wonderful things!

The Difference Half A Pound Makes

2010-02-09T12:26:00.000-08:00

I lost half a pound this week. A part of me was sad. I couldn’t help thinking that I had done an awful lot of work towards losing weight to only have lost half a pound. That same part of me was annoyed about only losing half a pound.

But then, another part of me realized what this half a pound meant. Last week, I weighed 140 pounds. In stone, the English way of weighing, I weighed 10 stone. This half a pound loss means that I am now in a new ten-pound bracket by now weighing 139 ½ pounds and I am in a new stone range by now weighing 9 stone 13 ½ pounds. It also got me a sticker in group for reaching another half pound lost. I’ve lost 9 ½ stone now (133 pounds).

Yes, only losing half a pound this week leaves me with more to lose by my birthday than I had hoped, but there is still a chance that I will reach my goal weight by my birthday. I have two weigh-ins before my birthday, and I need to lose 4 ½ pounds. If I don’t quite make it by then, my birthday falls closer to the meeting right after it, so I can try and get there by then.

Losing just half a pound can be depressing or it can be a blessing, depending on how I look at it. I’m choosing to look at it in a positive light.

Making Choices

2010-02-07T08:08:00.000-08:00

If you’re struggling to lose weight or to maintain a healthy lifestyle, it’s important to think about your choices. Losing weight would be easy if making the right choices was easy. But too often, it’s easier to choose to eat what we want instead of what’s good for us and to choose to sit and watch tv instead of getting up and doing some exercise.

We make these little choices all the time, throughout the day, and though each choice made has a small impact, if we continually choose these things, they add up to having a big effect on our waistlines and health. Choosing the high-in-fat dessert once in a while won’t do any permanent damage to our health, but if we make these choices on a regular basis, the result can be harmful.

Sometimes, the easier choice doesn’t even feel like you’re making one. You just go on automatic and reach for something salty to munch when you’re bored. Or you get home from work, and tired from a busy day, plunk yourself down in front of the tv for a bit of relaxation.

But each thing you do in your life is a choice. You can choose to walk to the store instead of driving there. You can choose to take the stairs at work instead of the elevator. You can choose to grab an apple when you feel like munching something or to go for a run when you’re bored.

Think about the things you do and the choices you are making by doing them. Are those choices helping you make it to your goal or are they hurting your progress? How important is your goal to you? Is that slice of cake and the few moments of pleasure you get as you scarf it down more important to you than feeling healthy and fit or than getting to your goal weight?

Thinking about your choices, once you start to really do it, can lead to helping you in areas of your life other than just health, fitness and weight loss too. Do you really want to chat with friends on Facebook? Or would your time be better spent catching up on writing the novel you dreamed of writing or knitting the scarf you promised yourself you would knit? Does sitting in front of the tv or computer screen mean more to you than spending time playing with your kids?

It’s okay to choose to socialize on the computer, play video games and watch tv sometimes. It’s only when those choices start to take up more of your life and take away from other areas that you have to begin to make different choices. What are your goals? What is it you really want to achieve? If you know what your goals are, then the majority of the choices you make throughout your day should be ones that help you get closer to them.

Only 5 Pounds To Go!

2010-02-04T03:23:00.000-08:00

At my weigh-in last monday night, I lost another one and a half pounds, so I am now only five pounds away from my goal weight, three pounds away from a healthy BMI and I have lost a total of 132.5 pounds.

It has become a real struggle to lose even the smallest amounts of weight and I am feeling conflicted. I told myself I was not going to crazy lengths to get this weight off ever again, but that feels like exactly what I am doing. Spending an hour on the elliptical crosstrainer at level 6 and above and an rpm of 10.5 to 11.5, then more than an hour on the Wii Fit, and then still doing an hour's walk with the dog later at night, and even sometimes throwing in 30 minutes exercising to my Tae Bo video, is going to extremes. I also don't think I am eating enough. This is not a pace that I can keep up and so it is not practical for a long-term solution.

The problem that I am facing is that I really, really do NOT want to gain any weight back right now, not when I am so close to my goal. But if I go back to my normal, more moderate exercise routine and eating more, my weight will go up. It won't be a permanent problem, as I am sure my weight will go back down again once it gets adjusted to the healthier regime again. But when I am so close to my goal, I really, really don't want to have to let it go up and then wait for it to come back down again. I'd rather get to my goal and then slowly return my routine back to normal, allowing for small, temporary gains in the interim.

I'm conflicted about this, but I shouldn't be. Good health is my ultimate goal, so it's pretty clear what I need to do.

Six Pounds Left

2010-01-27T12:54:00.001-08:00

I lost one and a half pounds this week, so I have only six pounds left until I reach my goal weight. A part of me is thrilled that I am almost there, and a part of me is worried that it is going to be a real battle to lose these last six pounds.

There's another part of me that says to forget what the charts say a healthy BMI is and stick with the weight I'm at. Yes, there is still some extra chub left for me to lose around my belly area. But overall, I am looking pretty slender and fit now, and I feel healthier and stronger than I have in years.

I only have four pounds left to lose to reach a healthy BMI for my height according to the charts. The reason for the extra two pounds that I want to lose is just to give me some wiggle room for my weight to fluctuate and still stay in a healthy BMI.

But charts can be wrong. And then again, I know what weight I am comfortable at, and I am not quite there yet.

So I will keep plugging along, keeping myself fit and eating to lose weight until I can change to eating to maintain.

I am trying really hard NOT to focus on the numbers and just to focus on how healthy I feel, how strong I feel and how differently my clothes fit now.

Goodbye Plateau!

2010-01-19T04:51:00.000-08:00

I lost 2.5 pounds this week! I have now lost a total of 130 pounds, and I only have 7.5 pounds left to lose until I reach my goal weight! I just have to make sure that I have an equally good week this week.

I'm really enjoying eating extra healthy meals and cooking up new dishes for us to try. I never got around to making the Spanish orange cake yesterday, so I might make it today for our dessert. Tonight I'm trying out a new recipe for meat loaf for our dinner. I've made meatloaf before but this one is from a recipe in my "World Of Flavours" cookbook.

I'll let you know what I think of it, and what the family thinks of it too!

I was procrastinating this morning. I did not feel like doing my cardio exercise today. I kept finding other things to do instead. I just felt so tired. I knew that I always felt good after I finished a workout, but it wasn't enough to push me into doing it.

Eventually, I got off of my sluggish-feeling, tired butt and got on the eliptical crosstrainer. I watched a show I'd missed this week while I got my exercise done, and guess what? I feel so much better now! And I feel like I have way more energy now too! Knowing this is always the result, why do I always find it so difficult to motivate myself to get up and do the exercise?

Planning Ahead & Doing Well

2010-01-17T13:09:00.000-08:00

Planning is important when trying to lose weight. If you plan ahead what you are going to eat for the week, it is much easier to avoid those tempting moments when you are hungry, don't know what there is to eat and grab something unhealthy for a quick fix.

With that in mind, Robert and I did a lot of planning ahead for this week. We won the new Slimming World cookbook "A World Of Flavours" at the last Slimming World meeting, so we decided to cook from it this week. So far I have made us two things from the book.

The first recipe we tried was Baked Cannelloni (Italian). We had broccolli as a side dish and the meal was delicious! The recipe feeds four, so Robert, our two teenage daughters and I were all able to have it, and everyone enjoyed it. It was even enjoyable enough for my teenager Angelica that she was willing to eat spinach! (There was spinach in the recipe, and she normally won't eat anything with spinach in it, but she liked the cannelloni.)

Tonight we had Vegetable Lasagne (Italian). It was delicious too, and importantly, it got my teenage daughters eating vegetables without complaining about it! It was full of healthy vegetables like bell peppers, courgettes, onion, and aubergines.

Tomorrow we are having Falafels (Morrocan) and the Tomato & Courgette Flan (French). I'm preparing the mixture for the falafels tonight and cooking it tomorrow. If I have time, I will also be making us the Spanish Orange Cake.

Tuesday, we will be making New York-style Meatloaf (North American) and on Wednesday, we will be trying the Baked Gnocchi (Italian). I am really looking forward to trying all of these new dishes.

I will be adding all of these recipes to my recipe blog as we try them out, along with what we thought about them.

Next week, we might try some of the recipes from the sections for Greece, India, China and Thailand to add even more variety to our meals.

Robert and I have been very, very good this week with our eating and exercise. I've been on the elliptical crosstrainer many times this week, the Wii Fit (using handweights) many times this week, and we've gone on several long walks. We've stuck to the Slimming World plan all week and used very few of our allowed "syns."

I am very hopeful that this week I will finally get past this plateau I've been stuck on for five weeks. My weigh-in is tomorrow night. I'll have a good idea by morning whether or not I will have a successful weigh-in or not. I am probably going to be a little worried until then though, because for the past five weeks, being "good" with my diet and exercise hasn't given me any results. I'm just praying that adding a little extra exercise and getting more variety in my diet has helped.

Challenging The Plateau

2010-01-15T03:26:00.000-08:00

I am so tired of fighting this weight! I've been stuck at the same weight for 5 weigh-ins (if you count the week I went up two only to follow by going down two the next week). And this week, my weight jumped up a little right after my weigh-in (as it usually does), but no matter how good I am being, it seems to want to stay up. I am doing more exercise (again, even though I told myself I would never over-exercise again). I am eating completely on plan with hardly any "syns" used at all. But it looks like I might continue at this weight for yet another weigh-in. (I'm really hoping this weekend shows my weight start to drop.)

I don't get it! I lost 127.5 pounds with a pretty steady amount of weekly loss, and yet once I reached the magic ten-pounds-left number, everything stopped, and even changing things up doesn't seem to be shifting it.

And the really frustrating part about this ten pounds hanging on is that I pay £4.75 a week for my weekly weigh-ins and group meetings at Slimming World, but once I reach my goal weight, I get to go for free. So not losing this last ten pounds is costing me money!

*sigh*

I know I should not focus so much on the weight, but it's just ten little pounds! I will not be beat by TEN FREAKIN' POUNDS!

I am stronger now, and that is a good thing. My BMI is probably better than my weight would suggest it is because I have added muscle to my body. My husband keeps referring to me as "tiny" and "petite" (which is music to a formerly morbidly obese person's ears). I have lots of energy too, which I did not have when I was seriously overweight. I can buy pretty clothes in a variety of styles IN MY SIZE, and they look GOOD on me now. I am still losing inches.

And yet that last ten pounds taunts me. I can hear it chanting, "Neener-neener-neener! You caaan't catch meeee!"

But, with my competitive streak in full force now, I know I will beat it. The thought that rises to my mind in response to its taunting is, "Wanna bet?"

Decadent Food

2010-01-12T13:37:00.000-08:00

I had the silliest dream last night.

Before bed, Robert and I had been talking about our plan to eat really healthy this week. So of course, I dreamed that we were at a hotel and it was the next day, and there were master chefs there who kept giving us really decadent food. I knew we had completely sabotaged our diets, but the food was so good. I can even remember sampling a chocolate dessert and actually TASTING it in my dream. I was thinking how delicious it was and that I was going to eat it slowly and really savor it.

I woke up relieved that I hadn't really eaten all that food, but feeling as if I'd enjoyed it nonetheless.

Healthy Living Or Losing Weight?

2010-01-04T06:23:00.000-08:00

Does it have to be a choice? I only have 10 pounds to reach my goal weight. Back before I'd lost the 127.5 pounds that I have lost, it was so much easier. Not only did the weight come off more easily and with smaller changes, but it was obvious that losing weight really was necessary for me to be healthier.

Now I'm only 8 pounds away from a healthy BMI. I've gone from weighing 272.5 pounds to weighing 145 pounds. It is obvious to anyone who looks at me that I am healthier now than I was. I have more energy. I'm stronger. There are a lot of benefits to being more concsious about the food that I am putting in my body and making sure I get enough exercise.

But do I need to lose more weight? My BMI would suggest I do. But what if, in order to lose that weight, I start restricting my calories more? Or maybe the only way to get that scale to come down fast enough for me is by exercising for several hours a day. Would reaching my goal weight in that way still make me healthier just because I could see the right number on the scale?

There comes a time when I have to just say that I am doing what I need to do to be healthy and the number on the scale will either show that or it won't. But it won't change my eating and exercise regime. I'm going to continue to do things in a way that is HEALTHY rather than in a way that will help me lose weight the quickest.

Patience is a virtue, after all.

When Healthy Living Means Losing Weight

2010-01-04T06:01:00.000-08:00

I had a pretty good week. I walked loads this week, from 5 to 10 miles a day. I did a little bit of exercise on the Wii Fit Plus. I ate healthy, only succumbing to a few chocolates from the chocolate tins we were given at Christmas a few times this week.

And yet, the scale says I'm up. It's just a tiny bit up, not even half a pound really, but still up. I hate when this happens, but I also know that it's just part and parcel of this journey. The goal is to be healthier, not to lose as much weight as possible.

And yet, just 8 pounds away from finally reaching a healthy BMI, and just 10 pounds away from my goal weight, I find it a struggle to remind myself of this. I still want to see that number go down on the scale.

I know some people say it's better not to have the scale in the house at all, to just avoid weighing. Unfortunately, when I've tried that, I get lazy, and my weight starts creeping back up. For me, at the moment, the number on the scale is motivating. I'm working on getting away from that though, because I think this focus is counterproductive in my attempts to lead a healthy lifestyle.

I might come down half a pound or a pound before my weigh-in tonight, but I'm trying not to think about it.

Happy Once-In-A-Blue-Moon New Year!

2010-01-01T15:44:00.000-08:00

This New Year's Eve had a blue moon. A blue moon only happens once every 2.75 years, but a blue moon falling on a New Year's Eve only happens once every 19 years. Even more unique, a blue moon only falls on a New Year's Eve at the turn of a decade once ever 410 years or so! So last night's blue moon was a once in a lifetime event!

I'd like to think that it means we are all going to have a wonderful year in 2010!

This year is going to be a fantastic year! Dreams will come true this year for most of us!

My dream of being a healthy weight is already coming true, and this year I will be hitting my goal weight. I intend to start focusing on some other goals that are also important to me, and I'm going to approach them the way I approached my weight loss, one step at a time. I will break my goals into mini goals which will consist of the different steps I need to take to achieve them and then I will work towards those mini goals, one at a time.

But since this is such a rare Blue Moon Year, I am challenging everyone to choose a goal that they previously believed to be out of reach for them and to take steps towards reaching it regardless. And to believe that they can actually attain it!

Have an "impossible" dream? This is the year to go for it!

Happy 2010!

Sick

2009-12-28T03:19:00.000-08:00

I said in my last post that I thought I was coming down with some sort of virus. The fever I developed yesterday confirmed it.

Sharp stomach pains. Headaches. Fatigue. And a fever.

So today, with my weigh-in later tonight, when I would normally be spending a lot of time exercising, I'm taking a break. I think I've lost weight this week anyway, so bringing some more water-weight off through exercise today isn't as important as healing.

Robert and I are thinking of going to see a movie today, and it would mean walking to and from the cinema. And our ride to our Slimming World group had to ancel, so we are walking there too. That'll be enough exercise for me today.

And Robert stayed up with our baby last night because the baby seems to have the same virus I have. He also got up with the kids this morning so I could lie in a bit.

I don't feel as awful today as I did yesterday and the day before, so hopefully this virus is on its way out.

Holiday Slump

2009-12-27T11:22:00.000-08:00

I absolutely HATED going up in weight last week, especially two whole pounds, but it was that time of month and I always seem to go up during it. *sigh*

This week, it looks like I'll be having a loss at my weigh-in. I don't know yet if it will be the whole 2 pounds I went up or more or less.

I am so close to my target weight, and I really want to reach it by my birthday on February 27th, but it's going to be close. It doesn't help that between now and then I have to get through our New Year's celebration and dh's and my 8th anniversary celebration. We probably won't have any money left to go out with though; we rarely do since our anniversary falls right after Christmas and our oldest daughter's birthday (she turned 18 yesterday - Boxing Day). Cooking in should help keep it from causing too much problems with my weight loss.

I've been really, really tired lately, and I've been getting stomach aches and headaches for a few days now. I think I'm coming down with a virus. But the fatigue is what is really getting to me. I'm really having to push myself to do any of my exercise.

I can't take a break yet though; not so close to my goal weight and my birthday target for it! Tuesday is my normal day to take a break from exercising, so I'll rest up as much as I can this Tuesday and see if it helps.

Girls & Body Image

2009-12-18T01:43:00.000-08:00

I'm trying so hard for my girls not to see me with a "diet mentality." But no matter what I do, they are imagining it anyway!

I still eat chocolate. I believe in allowing for treats, but limiting them, so that I don't feel deprived. And the kids have seen me eating chocolate and other treats.

Yet today, as I carved up some brownies to give to them, Gabby kept saying, "You can't have it, Mommy, because you're not allowed to have chocolate." I have never said anything like it around her. If I am not letting myself have a treat when everyone else is, I just say I will be having it later.

I want my girls to be confident about themselves and their bodies no matter what size they end up being, and I want them to have healthy attitudes towards food, not the messed up attitude I had for so many years.

It's such a difficult line to tread when you're trying to lose weight!

I'm trying to lead my daughters by example. I don't talk about my "diet." (I believe that diet is just a word, and one that refers to whatever food we happen to be eating, not any special "plan.") I talk about eating foods that will keep me healthy and strong.

I don't talk about my body in a negative way in front of my kids. How can I expect them to feel confident about their own bodies if I let them see me being insecure about my own?

I fit a reasonable amount of exercise into my day, and I eat large, healthy meals. I snack on fruits and vegetables. Occasionally, I even have chocolate, because I really, really enjoy eating chocolate. And when I have it, my kids see me eating it. They see me eating all kinds of food.

I don't center any occasions around food. Sometimes I provide snacks and meals for guest when we have visitors. Sometimes I just have drinks ready. I don't want the kids to think that every social occasion requires food to complete it.

There are other small things I do to try and lead by example. It doesn't always seem to be working though.

So hit me up in the comments with what you do to try and instill body image confidence in your kids and a healthy attitude towards food. And if you don't have kids, how would you do this if you did?