Scale Junkie Weight Loss Blog

Healthy You Challenge Week 6, 2012

2012-02-07T01:04:00.000Z

Hope everyone is off to a great start for the month of February! As you may have realized by now, its a leap year, that means we get a bonus day. How do you plan on spending your February 29th? I'm planning an active day of hiking or a morning beach trip with my husband and dogs depending on the weather. What about you? Its not often we get an extra day in the year, why not make it fun? Back in 2008 on the last leap year I posted about a bonus day, Its not too early to start thinking about it. I wanted to post about it earlier this year so people could have time to plan. I actually do some of the routines I outlined in that post when I feel I need to let go of something negative. It works!

Goals for this week for me: keep the eating clean and get in more exercise!! What about you?

Healthy You Challenge Week 5, 2012

2012-01-31T01:07:00.000Z

Hi everyone, end of the first month of 2012, are you on track? I need to tweak my eating a bit and keep up with my other goals this month of drinking enough water and increasing exercise gradually. I feel like I'm on track and I'm making progress, I want to keep it that way. What about you?

For those of you who live in the south eastern United States and have a Publix grocery store near you, I have a giveaway going on for a $25 Publix gift card so click here and enter if you want! Deadline to enter is February 1st so hurry!

And now on to checking in!

The Best Meals Happen At Home Publix Gift Card Giveaway

2012-01-26T12:23:00.003Z

Publix does it again! They've launched another savings special called The Best Meals Happen at Home with savings up to $200 and shared tasty FASTastic and easy recipes. Chipotle Ranch Taco Salad...its whats for dinner at my house tonight. In conjunction with this special promotion, I'm giving away a $25 Publix gift card! Keep Reading

Healthy You Challenge Week 4, 2012

2012-01-24T02:52:00.001Z

Hi everyone! How did you do with your goals last week? I ended up doing great with my goal to stay hydrated. This weeks goal is to increase exercise...but I'm baby stepping this one. I'm not going to start doing X amount per day and then beat myself up when I don't stay with it. I'm going to do a reasonable amount of exercise or some active outing each day. What do you have planned this week?

One slip is not the end of the world

2012-01-19T13:01:00.000Z

I’ve been blogging a while, dieting a lot longer. Historically this is the week where people start to give up. Maybe the first two weeks of the new year the scale really dropped and you felt great and then this week the scale didn’t move as much. Or maybe your willpower started to show signs of cracks. That food that couldn’t tempt you back in week 1 might start to look just a bit better. Or maybe worse, maybe you’ve CHEATED and you think it’s the end of the world, why bother, I’ll just stay fat and unhealthy, it doesn’t really matter anyhow, blahdiddy blah blah blah…STOP THAT RIGHT NOW!

Every step towards better health, no matter how small is a step in the right direction. Did you take your measurements? It’s not too late to do it! There are so many ways to measure success besides the scale. Did you write a list of why you really want this?

One of the things that overwhelms a lot of people and causes diet failure is that we try to take on too much at once. I think most of us have been there we decide that we’re going to never eat __fillintheblank__ again and we’re going to exercise for an hour a day, every single day no matter what, get your gungho game face on and woooooohooooo….. and then something happens. You have a bite of something you don’t think is on your diet, maybe you missed a day at the gym or a workout? These are NOT reasons to quit.

I read a quote on a friends facebook wall the other day that I wanted to share: Saying “oh, I’ve already ruined good eating today, I’ll just eat crap” is like saying “Oh, I dropped my phone on the floor. I’ll just smash it til it breaks.” How true is that? Just because your car runs out of gas or breaks down doesn’t mean you have to go out and buy a new one! The comparisons can go on and on and on. One slip being eating or exercise is not the end of the world. Now say it with me: One slip is not the end of the world!

If you’re struggling this week, I hope you aren’t but if you are, stop and take a minute to regroup. Take a minute to think of what you’ve already accomplished and think of the small steps you can take. Make one change each week. Add one healthy new thing to your life once a month. It all adds up. It all matters. Just like one candy bar didn’t make you gain 100 pounds, it takes time to undo what we’ve done to our bodies. Don’t give up!

Now say it with me: One slip is not the end of the world!

Healthy You Challenge Week 3, 2012

2012-01-17T01:17:00.000Z

Hi everyone! I hope you're having a great week. I've noticed that its around about now that people start to lose their diet mojo. Quite often we see such great results on the scale the first few weeks of the new year that when it starts to slow down we get discourage and eventually quit. I'm here to tell you right now...don't do it! Every step towards better health, no matter how small is a step in the right direction.

This week my small step is going to be to focus on staying hydrated. What is your small step of the week?

Mid month round up and the book I've been reading

2012-01-15T23:25:00.002Z

I'm trying to get back into the swing of life after a rough couple of years and so far so good. I've started by taking charge of my life and health. You know once I stopped taking Zyrec it was like this huge fog of depression just melted away and I felt like me again...unfortunately I hadn't made much progress with my health and weight loss goals and as I mentioned before I had completely put my head in the sand with my pre-diabetes diagnosis and most likely sent myself into full blown diabetes.

When I decided to take control I started researching and found out that Diane Kress was releasing a new book called The Diabetes Miracle, 3 Simple Steps to Prevent, and Control Diabetes and Regain Your Health...Permanently. With a title like that I knew I had to have this book. I wanted to buy it immediately! Full disclosure: I found out the book would not be released until the 2nd week of January but I needed to start NOW so I reached out to the publisher and requested an advance copy and they were wonderful enough to oblige, thank you De Capo and Diane Kress xoxo. They have not asked me to write this and what I'm writing is my own opinion from my experiences so far. The book is now available on Amazon through the link I posted and no I don't make any money if you click my link and buy it but if you're pre-diabetic or diabetic and your blood sugar is out of control you should and let me tell you why.

Author Diane Kress is not only a registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator, she's a type 2 diabetic herself. When she talks about diabetes she's not only talking from her education but from her personal experiences. Would this fall into the same category as the saying never trust a skinny chef? Okay so maybe not the best comparison here but she knows her stuff!

In the book she not only tells you whats going on in your body when your blood sugar is too high or too low, she explains why. She puts it in terms that are not only easily understandable, they're eye openers. So often well meaning doctors try to put patients on diets for diabetes that don't really work. I know, I've been there.

I'm currently on the first step, an eight week plan where you eat a lower carb diet but you're allowed 5 net carbs every five hours. I know you might be saying 5 net carbs isn't very much but let me tell you, 5 net carbs can keep a dieter sane.

She says don't weigh in during step 1 but HELLO look up there at the title of my blog and what do YOU think is happening in my bathroom a few mornings a week? Oh yes, the strip naked and peek at the scale dance. Since the start of the month I'm down 17 pounds. My blood sugar has dropped considerably, its still not in normal range but I'm working on getting there.

I think the most important thing, getting OFF the sugar has taken me off the sugar roller coaster. I'm not getting those spikes in my blood sugar anymore. My blood pressure is back in the normal range too. I feel...good.

From step 1 you transition into adding in more healthy carbs, brown rice, fruits, things I enjoy and have always made part of my healthy lifestyle. Yes I threw out that word lifestyle because after reading some of the analogies in this book I know that this needs to be my lifestyle. The days of candy and cake binges need to be over. Knowing what that is doing to my blood vessels, organs and body is enough to make me stop in my tracks and start taking her advice.

Is the eight week step one easy? Yes and no. I miss fruits, I miss whole grains but I'll see them again in March. You can have 5 net carbs every five hours so things like low carb breads, lavash and tortillas are options and so is yogurt. The one thing I love, using half and half in my coffee. Milk has too many carbs but I don't miss the milk because I can use almond milk. And then there are the nuts! You can have a reasonable amount of nuts on this plan too. I have been enjoying pistachios, partly because you have to crack them open and it slows me down and I hit that satisfied spot before I finish a handful of them.

If you're pre-diabetic or diabetic, please think about getting this book and trying this plan. 15 days into it and I'm feeling so much better already. I know this is a lifestyle that I need to embrace and if you need to, please take your head out of the sand and take action now.

Healthy You Challenge Week 2, 2012

2012-01-10T00:34:00.003Z

Hi everyone! Hope you're all off to a great start for 2012! I've been doing great at getting in more physical activity but I need to get my eating under tighter control so I'm working on that this week. I think the last of the holiday food is out of the house and we've attended our last post holiday season party, no more distractions!

How is your week going? Are you sticking to your plan? Have you navigated distractions? Are you making this a lifestyle and not just a diet? Lets hear all about it and anything else you wish to share in the comments!

Happy Found Day

2012-01-04T12:16:00.000Z

On this day in 2006 two incredible beings came into my world. We don't know the date of their birth so we celebrate the day they were found. This is the story of their "Found Day"

Hi we are Sadie and Max and this is our story. It begins on the day our lives nearly ended, January 4th, 2006. Someone put us in a black garbage bag and left us in a dumpster with some newspapers and other trash...we were just about four weeks old. They say when one window closes another window opens and on that day, we had a wonderful window open. I don't know how long we were in the dumpster or why we were left there. I just know that when someone started throwing garbage on top of us, Sadie used the last of her energy and strength to whimper. Suddenly there was a rumbling noise and then light...bright light. A very kind face looked down at us and reached into the bag and scooped us up and gave us a little cuddle. He took us to a van and put us in a box with one of his shirts. We had a long ride ahead of us. He was working that day...three hours away from the place that would be our new home. He still had work to do when he found us. We heard him telling his wife on the phone that he was having a bad day, a flat tire, a speeding ticket but he had a good surprise for her. He sounded happy when he mentioned the surprise.

The kind man gave us water to drink and cheese crackers...it was the best he had and we were grateful. One of his customers gave us a musical teddy bear. We really liked cuddling up to that but we were happiest when he was holding us. We felt safe with him.

Finally we arrived at the place that we would call home. He put us in the box and told us not to make a sound and carried us into the house, he wanted to surprise her. We could smell food cooking and we heard her voice for the first time. She was so happy to see him and as he placed the box on the counter we heard her say "Whats in the box" He told her to look in side and when she opened the box Sadie had to peek her head out and see. We heard the woman gasp. Then she looked in the corner of the box and saw Max. He was curled up in a ball, very sick and very scared. We heard her exclaim:
"OH MY GOSH THERE'S TWO OF THEM!!!"

She reached in the box and gently pulled us both out one bye one and cuddled us close just like he did. We really liked it. We were in a new house with new smells.We really liked it here. They decided to keep us both and we were so happy that we got to stay together. Brother and sister through thick and thin. It was there and then that The Adventures of Sadie and Max begin...

Healthy You Challenge Week 1, 2012

2012-01-03T03:08:00.001Z

Happy New Year!! I hope you're all off to a great and healthy start in 2012.

The only change I need to note is for NEW MEMBERS...no need to email me to join, just sign in and introduce yourself in the comments. Some people were shy about emailing and others didn't want to have their blog "welcomed" on the sign in page for whatever reasons.

So if you're new to the HYC (Healthy You Challenge) WELCOME! and if you've been staying accountable with me for a few weeks, months or years, WELCOME BACK!

Lets make 2012 a great year!

Welcome 2012, its going to be a great year!

2012-01-01T18:35:00.001Z

Happy New Year! I'm looking forward to a great year and making progress in not only my weight loss but improving other aspects of my life as well.

This year we rang in the new year from home. Sadie and Max have never been bothered by fireworks in the past apart from when they were puppies and would hear a boom and bark and we'd say "its just fireworks" and eventually they stopped barking and learned the big booms was just humans being silly. This year it was a little bit different for Sadie.

For those of you who don't know, Sadie was diagnosed with diabetes in September and over the past two months she's been slowly losing her eyesight. She's a champ though, she's learned to navigate the house, she knows her way around the yard and as long as we don't move something she doesn't run into anything.

Around our neighborhood people like to light off a LOT of fireworks so we expected a good show at midnight. I have to say the only upside I am seeing to the horrible economy is that people in my neighborhood couldn't afford as much fireworks. In past years the booming would start before dark and carry on all night long and when I say all night long I'm talking until the last drunk passed out at 5am New Years Day. Oh yeah, its a wee bit redneck around here! This year a LOT less booming but a nice little show at midnight.

We did our typical stand outside with the TV playing in the living room so we could hear the countdown and when the fireworks started Max was zigzagging through the bushes looking for geckos to ~~munch on~~ say hello to but Sadie had disappeared. She'd gone back in the house when the booming started. This wasn't like her. Ken picked her up and she snuggled up with her head on his shoulder, I gave her a scratch on the chin and some reassurance. It was about then I felt a paw on my leg. I looked down and Max had pulled his head out of the bushes and was looking up at me while on his hind legs as if to say well if Dad is holding Sadie shouldn't you be holding me? Come on human woman, PICK ME UP!

So I picked him up, all 55 pounds of him. Immediately it was harder to breathe and my back hurt but instead of putting him back down. I walked up and down our path, into the driveway, up and down and then back again. For two minutes I carried an extra 55 pounds. Its hard to admit I'm up 35 pounds from my lowest weight this past spring which is better than saying I'm up 50 pounds from my lowest weight this summer which is what I would have said before . I know why and I've already taken actions to stop and head in the right direction so throw no stones please, I'm owning the poor choices that led me here. I found the cause of my depression and once I removed that, no more desire to binge eat so its all good again, I'm back on track but still, that 55 pounds of weight was brutal. I'm NOT going back there again.

I've said in the past I don't make resolutions. There is no one magic day of the year to start a diet. I no longer believe in diets either, I believe in lifestyle changes. There is no old way, I'm making a new normal. Following the lead of my successful friends, this year I've written a list of goals. They include weight loss and fitness goals...pounds to lose and a 5k that I've said I'd do for years now and haven't, working more so I can afford to take more metalsmithing classes and buy supplies so I can make and sell jewelry, saving money and paying off debt.

If you haven't made a list of GOALS for 2012, write that list now. Don't get caught up in the "resolution" trap because for so many resolution is an all or nothing word and lets face it, we don't live in an all or nothing world.

My wish for each and every one of you is that 2012 brings you health and happiness, that you're able to work on those goals and cross each and every one of them off your to do list!

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 52, 2011

2011-12-27T02:06:00.000Z

So here we are, another year older and a new one just about to start. I've had several inquiries asking if I would be continuing the HYC and the answer to that is yes, but I plan on making some changes and updating some of the content on the HYC pages. We'll still have banners and buttons but I won't ask people to email to join, if someone wants to join they can just join in, some had reservations about being "welcomed" and some didn't want to email so I'm trying to streamline to make it as easy for everyone as possible. But more about that next week :-)

Welcome

Wish Me Thin
http://wish-me-thin.blogspot.com/

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 51, 2011

2011-12-20T00:00:00.000Z

Here we go, second to last check in for the year! Are you ready for a strong finish to this year? I've said NO to so many sweets this past week, I've moved more and really watched my calories. I haven't been drinking enough water so that is added to this weeks goals, get enough to drink!

If you celebrate, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa or anything else this coming week, I'd like to wish you good times with your family and friends, peace, health, happiness and much love from my family to yours!

Diabetes, Depression, Diet and other random things

2011-12-15T19:20:00.003Z

Its no secret, my eating has been on a roller coaster. I do well for a while then crash and burn, cry, pick up the pieces and vow to fight again. I still don't have health insurance but the last time I was at a doctor a few years ago he wanted me to get tested again for diabetes. Instead of taking action, I let depression suck me in and put my head in the sand for a few years.

Depression is an ugly word but so is diabetes. I found the cause of my depression, a random post by a friend on Facebook led me to try a little experiment and by cutting out one little thing, its been like night and day. I started taking Zyrtec a few years ago for allergies, I was taking it every night before bed. I know some people take it first thing in the morning but I had got into the habit of taking it at night and since its a once every 24 hours pill, I never bothered to break the cycle. I don't remember when I started to feel depressed. I do know I am the person who never really understood depression. I remember once when I was in my 20's hanging out with a group of friends and someone made the comment that everyone has been suicidal at least once in their life, everyone agreed but me. I'd never experienced a suicidal thought in my life...until the past few years. I never tried suicide but my thoughts were overwhelming at times and often very negative inside of my head. I kept up a good front with friends, no one knew but Ken did, even Sadie and Max knew, one day when it was really bad, they took turns laying with me. I think they knew, they sensed I wasn't myself. Having them beside me that day stopped me from finding a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

Thats just it, everything felt like a huge problem. Fast forward to September and the post on my friends Facebook wall. I stopped taking Zyrtec cold turkey and within days Ken noticed I was different. October was probably the BEST month I've had in years. November wasn't great because I had an abscessed tooth but I can't imagine what that would have been like if I had depression issues on top of it.

Please know I'm not saying Zyrtec is the cause of every ones depression or that it doesn't because it did, I didn't have allergy issues while taking it but I did experience pretty severe depression that started to go away within days and was gone weeks and only kept getting better...and still is. I should also note that I've had reactions to other types of medications, Nyquil for instance that is supposed to make you sleepy makes me feel hyper and wide awake.

Which leads me to where I am now. A few years later, having done who knows how much damage to my body by putting my head in the sand and I'm here trying to assess the damage and find the best course of action for me to get my health back under control. Watching the carbs, eliminating sugar and highly processed foods, trying to keep it simple and yes even starting to exercise again.

Watch this space!

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 49, 2011

2011-12-13T00:39:00.002Z

So close to the end of the year. Are you feeling the pressure? I had a very busy week and I will admit my eating plan went out the window. The only thing I did with any consistency was walk every morning. I'm working on making this week better. More water, more exercise, better food choices. How are you handling the holiday MONTH filled with temptations?

WELCOME!

Getting Past My Number
http://incurvate.wordpress.com/

Trials and Tribulations of a Fat Girl Blog
http://trialsandtribulationsofgthefatty.blogspot.com/

Sausage Balls

2011-12-12T13:58:00.000Z

Appetizer night has become a tradition around my house, in the weeks leading up to the new year we pick a few nights to chill at home, eat appetizers and watch holiday themed movies. Its typically a package of Boursin and crackers, veggies and hummus, a bowl of mixed fruit, nuts and then everyone picks a favorite to add to the mix, my favorite to add is sausage balls.

They're also great to make to take to a party but if you don't have a party to take them to, no worries, make them, let them cool, put them on a baking tray in the freezer, once frozen transfer to freezer storage bags. When you're ready to serve, just put them in the microwave on a plate, defrost setting for about a minute...more or less depending on how many you're thawing, then heat on 80% power until hot, about a minute.

I posted this recipe on my recipe blog a few years ago...a site I started to keep recipes organized for myself and share with others. I haven't been doing much sharing lately but I was looking for the sausage ball recipe and when I searched online I found all of those full fat, unhealthy recipes and then I remembered I'd posted it to my recipe blog.

If you need to bring an appetizer to a party, these are a great choice and under 30 calories per sausage ball.

Years ago I went to a family party and my older sister Sheryl made these delectable little balls of yumminess called sausage balls. It was truly love at first bite. They were made with a pound of hot sausage, a pound of mild sausage, Bisquick baking mix and LOTS of cheese.

I wanted to recreate these little bite sized beauties because I was asked to bring an appetizer to a party. Of course I was going to healthily them up Scale Junkie style and I have to say WOW!

I didn’t take step by step directions but I did manage to snap a shot for you when they came out of the oven and passed my taste test.

Ingredients:

5 links of Jennie O Italian Turkey sausage (20 ounces)
1.5 cups of Heart Smart Low Fat Bisquick Baking Mix
8 ounces of low fat 2% finely shredded cheddar cheese.

Remove the turkey sausage from their casings and discard casings. Add in the baking mix to sausage, use your hands to mix this all together most of the way and then add in the finely shredded cheddar and mix the rest of it all together to make a meatball mixture. Be sure to use the finely shredded cheddar its just easier to mix through than the bigger chunks of shredded cheddar.

Shape into about 1.5 inch meatballs and place on wire rack on baking tray. This allows any grease to drip from the sausage into the tray and your meatballs stay grease free. Make sure you place them so they aren’t touching because they will expand slightly as they cook.

Bake at 400 degrees for 10 to 14 minutes until cooked, mine were ready in 12 minutes.

I serve them warm and as is but I’ve seen them served at parties with various dips so go for it if you so desire.

Variation: Used finely shredded mozzarella cheese, add 1/2 tsp garlic powder and 1 tsp Italian seasoning to ingredient list, form and bake as above and serve with a marinara sauce for dip.

Yield: approximately 65 sausage balls

Nutritional Info:
Calories 28
Fat: 1g
Cholesterol: 6mg
Sodium: 90mg
Carbs: 2g
Fiber: 0
Protein: 2.5g

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 48, 2011

2011-12-06T01:38:00.001Z

Hi everyone, welcome to December 2011, hard to believe another year is almost over isn't it? I'm extremely busy with work this week and I've tried to stock up on healthy snacks so I can avoid the holiday candies and cookies. One of my favorite go to snacks this time of year are the clemenite oranges. Tiny little 30 to 35 calories each, easy to peel, very portable, great little sweet snacks. What are some of your favorite healthy snacks this time of year?

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 47, 2011

2011-11-29T18:42:00.001Z

Hi everyone, December is nearly here. Sorry for not getting this up earlier, work has been dominating my time because I'm trying to make up lost hours from when I was sick earlier in the month. Anyhow, my goals for December are to drop at least four pounds, I'm not putting unrealistic expectations on myself, I know I have parties, special events coming up this month where I will indulge. I refuse to gain! What are your December plans and goals?

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 46, 2011

2011-11-22T10:48:00.001Z

Last week was a very rough week for me, my tooth ended up infected and I was very sick for days as a result. It really taught me a lesson on just how quickly you can go from feeling fabulous to oh no I think I'm going to die, it can turn on a dime. It makes me realize my health is a delicate balance and right now, getting healthy is going to help me bounce back quicker from future illness. I hate to think how my body would have reacted 50 pounds ago. My goal for this week of Thanksgiving is to appreciate what I have and not let a holiday, a day of celebration, make my body feel worse. I'm balancing the indulgence with exercise. What is your plan of attack for this holiday or any holiday?

WELCOME

Oh No Where Has My Waistline Gone?

http://determined2bfit.blogspot.com/

Holiday Gift Guide Round Up

2011-11-21T00:12:00.001Z

Do you get tired of saying "ummmm, I don't know" when someone asks you what you want for the holidays? Or maybe you want to buy a gift for someone you love and you aren't sure what to get. Here are a few of my top picks.

Gadgets On the Go

BodyMedia FIT CORE Armband
You may have seen it recently endorsed by Jillian Michaels' or heard of other similar devices but the CORE Armband captures over 5,000 data points per minute and it tracks calories burned, steps taken, levels of physical activity, it even tracks your sleep.

The BodyMedia FIT CORE Armband | $179.99

It was easy to set up, it only needs to be charged once every 5 or 6 days and the interface on the website is easy to use, easy to understand. It takes a bit of time to enter in your food and get in the habit of tracking but it was fascinating to see my walks and other activity tracked and see how many steps I took, calories burned and it was easy to know how much I needed to decrease to see weight loss. I'm still learning the ins and outs. But this is a keeper and a great way to start the New Year off right!

Disclosure: I'm currently using the Advantage model but the CORE is the newest model and is smaller. Just make sure you order the correct size for your arm, I didn't and my band was too tight. They sell replacement bands with fashion colors too. BodyMedia provided me with a Armband starter package but as always, the opinions expressed here are my own.

GEEK OUT

KENS ART

As the name says, these are pieces of art by Ken who also happens to be my husband! He is a geek, a gadget man, a techy tech guy. He takes things apart and fixes them but sometimes things are too far gone and even Ken can't fix them. Instead of sending them to the landfill, he started making little odds and ends and eventually started making sculputres. He decided to start selling them on Etsy after Sadie was diagnosed with diabetes in an attempt to offset some of the ongoing costs of her testing and care. Here is one example, you can see more and purchase on KensArt Etsy. Stop by KenSwallowArt Facebook page and "like" it too! Makes a great gift for the geek in your life <3

Recycled Three Wheeler by KensArt

The Professor by Ken's Art

Disclosure: Ken is my husband, Sadie is my dog. I profit from this by keeping my dog healthy. My payment is mainly in the form of slobbery dog kisses.

WEARABLE ART!

Nashville Restrung

My friend Laura is from Nashville, she married a man who makes custom guitars. Like me she's a creative type and one day she saw her husband throwing away broken guitar strings she asked why he didn't recycle them. It turns out they're made of mixed metals and can't be recycled so they end up in the landfill. She asked him to put them in a box for her and when she had time she started making bracelets, necklaces and rings from the strings. She has very limited items listed online currently (she's working on listing more as I type) but if you're in or near Nashville she has items for sale at White Bluff Music in White Bluff TN, you can also check out examples on her facebook page, she will also use strings you provide from your stringed musical instrument (guitar, bass, violin, etc.) and create a custom piece just for you or your musician. They make great gifts and money made from Nashville Restrung is going towards her latest project Strings For Hope, a non-profit she's founded that is committed to financially supporting the physical, educational and spiritual needs of our communities, both locally and globally thorough the sales of wearable art created of recycled strings from musical instruments. So good cause, recycled product, very affordable, around $12 to $30 plus a small shipping fee. She has a few listed here but her inventory is vast, contact her today about a gift for yourself or your loved one.

Nashville Restrung Bonanza Store

Nashville Restrung on Facebook

Strings For Hope

Disclosure: Laura is one my dearest friends. I haven't been compensated to post this, just sharing because I believe in her and believe in her cause.

NEW YEARS RESOLUTION

EatSmart Precision Digital Bathroom Scale

I have used many bathroom scales, from those that track body mass, body fat, etc. to the old fashioned dial scales way back before digital. This scale remains my favorite because its just so simple and easy to use. Its attractive and you don't have to tap and wait you just get on and wait a few seconds and your weight is displayed in easy to read numbers. It has a capacity of 400 lbs or 180kgs and its accurate for under $30!!! I can't tell you how many other scales I'd get on and get one weight, step off and step back on a minute later and it would be off by a few pounds. Not this scale, its consistent every time!

Disclosure: EatSmart sent me this scale about a year ago and generously did several giveaways to my readers. Reminding you about them is just good karma for me :)

Hopefully these will get you started, check, back, I'll try to add a few more things over the next week!

Happy Holidays,
Lots of Love from
Diana, Ken, Sadie and Max

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 45, 2011

2011-11-14T23:51:00.001Z

Hi everyone! I hope you're all having a great week. I'm having a bit of a rough week. My tooth decided it was going to scream with pain on Thursday, I went to the dentist on Friday afternoon and it was abscessed and they wouldn't work on it until I had at least four days of antibiotics which means I'm headed back to the dentist Tuesday morning. Not my favorite place to be the drilling and pain, the expense, ouch squared! My diet has been soft foods, I'm so sick of scrambled eggs and oatmeal but for a few more days its going to be soft foods, suggestions?

Enough about me, what are your goals for the week? For those of us in the USA we have the Thanksgiving holiday just around the corner, I'm already preparing and picking my battles. There will be a slice of apple pie, there will be at least two miles of walking, 1 mile in the morning and 1 mile in the evening, beyond that, I'm not so sure yet.

Anyone else gearing up for Black Friday sales? The tooth put a huge damper in my shopping plans but I still like to look at the good deals.

I'm also working on putting together my holiday shopping guide, its a lot of fun, look for it early next week :)

WELCOME!

Work It Out, Gurl
http://www.workitoutgurl.blogspot.com/

Big Steps 2 Take
http://bigsteps2take.blogspot.com/

Watching Thin People

2011-11-10T18:50:00.001Z

Talking about taking control made me remember the Christmas party we went to two years ago for hubby’s work. We ended up assigned to a table with a woman everyone called Sergeant Major. She was in charge of the accounting department, retired military and very controlling and bossy. She was about 45 years old, 5’9” and thin and fit.

The food at this party was phenomenal. Appetizers of bite size Beef Wellington, puffed pastry filled with crab and cream cheese mixture, shrimp cocktail. For the buffet style main course dinner, a phenomenal salad with gorgonzola, toasted walnuts, mandarin orange, red onion and spring mix greens, I make this often. There was poached salmon, chicken breasts stuffed with sundried tomato, spinach and parmesan cheese, roasted pork, chicken picatta, beef in a merlot sauce. For side dishes, rosemary and citrus roasted potatoes, wild rice pilaf, a vegetable medley, glazed baby carrots, green beans with almonds and of course there were piping hot fresh rolls on every table with butter. For dessert there were pies, cookies, Belgian chocolates, chocolate turtle cake or cheesecake.

I indulged in at least two of each of the appetizers…just in case I didn’t like what would be offered for the main course. Then the buffet was present, I was so overwhelmed by choices I took a small portion of almost everything, as did most everyone else at our table. We passed the rolls and butter and endulged in a feast of feasts. When dessert was offered, hubby and I each picked a different dessert and shared.

The one thing I noticed during this meal is what Sergeant Major chose. She had one beef wellington appetizer, she had a portion of salad, steamed salmon, vegetable medley, green beans and about a ½ cup of rice. For desert she took one bite of cake and enjoyed conversation with everyone as she sipped her coffee sweetened with splenda.

This still stands out in my mind over two years later. Not the details of the food, I confess I looked them up on the country club’s website to refresh my memory on what was served. But I recalled exactly what she ate. What this tall thin, fit and healthy woman ate. To her this wasn’t a special occasion meant to indulge. To her it was eating to meet her nutritional needs and a bite of cake. She stands out in my mind as someone who isn’t controlled by food.

I’ve let food control me for so long I didn’t know there was another way. I grew up a family that used food to celebrate everything. I used food to celebrate when I was happy and I used food to console me when I felt down. Learning to let go of “using” food is the first step. I feel like I finally get it.

I feel like the story of “Sergeant Major” stuck in my mind for a reason. Food isn’t a reward it’s something we need to meet our bodies nutritional needs. This is something I’ve come to terms with. I know it, I get it. Now I have to hold on to it for dear life and never forget these lessons I’ve taken so many years to learn.

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 44, 2011

2011-11-08T00:38:00.000Z

Hi everyone. I hope November is off to a great start. I'm just trying to push myself a little bit harder this week and for the rest of the year so I can end on a strong note. I had a pretty interesting weekend and I plan on blogging about it at some point. I know my blog posts have been infrequent but I'm hoping to change that.

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 43, 2011

2011-11-01T00:09:00.000Z

Hi everyone, hope your Halloween was full of treats and not tricks! We only had a few kids and a 120 piece bag of candy...Ken has claimed it as HIS and thats a good thing for me because if I tell myself its his candy, I won't eat it...whatever it takes right?

Goals for November? My big plan is to stay on track and not let the Thanksgiving (United States) holiday throw me off track. Its a holiday not a holimonth and in the past I've let October, November and December become one long feeding frenzy. Not.this.year! Lets make a pact to finish 2011 strong!

Breaking the negative self talk cycle

2011-10-30T18:32:00.000Z

The other day a friend sent me an excerpt from what I thought was an article. It was thought provoking and I thanked her for sending it to me because I found it inspiring. After a few more email exchanges she confronted me and asked me if I'd really read the words and I said I had and she said read them again. Then she sent me this and I was like..oh yeah, those were MY words. I'm spending some time re-reading my own posts and finding my inner strong.

Breaking the negative self talk cycle

For years I felt like a failure because I couldn’t lose weight. I blamed this or that along the way but the truth is that when I’m 100% honest with myself I’ve been my own worst enemy. When the going gets tough I’ve run the other way. When faced with a mountain to climb I’ve never made it to the top and I’ve used every excuse in the book to justify my failures. Would I do this in my professional career? NO WAY but I do it to my body.

I look at how harshly I’ve treated myself in the past and I realized that I would NEVER EVER treat someone else the way I treat myself. Would you call a friend a failure if they made one mistake? Would you sit back and let a friend binge eat? Would you call a friend ugly? Would you point out every flaw to a friend? Would you criticize every decision a friend made? Would you let a friend abuse their body? I’d never let a friend do the things I’ve done to myself, not ever. But yet I do it to myself and justify it. It needs to stop and it needs to stop now!

If you take the time to examine what you’re saying about yourself ask yourself first if its true. If its true then ask yourself if you’re skewing it at all. Chances are if you aren’t giving yourself the whole picture when you hit yourself with a negative. Look at the facts first and then see where you can go from there.

I am worth fighting for and so are you. Can we make a little pact to stop being so hard on ourselves? If you find yourself saying something negative STOP and turn it into a positive. I’ve learned that when I really want to change I have to make myself step out of my comfort zone. As much as it hurts, sometimes we need to get uncomfortable to get to the truth. Saying nice things about myself is something I’ve never been good so I’ve decided to look at things I know are true about me and things that can help me along the way to a healthier mind, body and spirit.

When I fall down I get back up again
Sugar is not my friend, I feel so much better when I avoid it
My body feels so good after exercise
I meet challenges head on
I don’t quit
I will be kinder to myself and treat myself as I treat others
I have a capacity to learn and will seek new information daily
I am a loving wife and good puppy momma
I am unique and beautiful in a way that is all mine and I’m proud of that
I am strong, physically strong and getting stronger, mentally strong and getting strong, spiritually strong and getting stronger.

Your turn, even if it hurts, even if it causes some discomfort, write a list of positive things that are true about you. I wrote 10, you can write more or less but do at least 6 and really push yourself out of that comfort zone and look inside of yourself for this list. You don’t have to share them if you don’t want but I really REALLY hope you do! Looking a little deeper sometimes provides the push that we need.

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 42, 2011

2011-10-25T01:07:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone! I hope you're having a great week. I'm recovering from my birthday weekend and yes I realize most people only have a birthday but I tend to just go ahead and celebrate the whole month of October. Due to budget cut backs I've limited my celebration to this past weekend with my actual birthday being this past Sunday...so happy birthday to me. It left me feeling old and like I have too much left to accomplish.

So goals for the rest of the month...accomplish something! Anything but I need to accomplish something! I started off this morning by walking the old 1 mile route, it felt great! So with the year winding down, what else can you accomplish this year?

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 41, 2011

2011-10-18T00:39:00.002+01:00

Hi everyone! I hope everyone is having a great week. I'm doing my normal so busy I can't see straight routine. We had a good anniversary last week, we didn't do anything special but just being together was special enough. This week another very busy week working, I'm trying to get back to my old workaholic self in hopes of digging out of this financial pit, so basically more of the same around here. I've really let my exercise slide this past week but I plan on getting back to basics and making more time for me. I need to quiet my brain so I can sleep and have the strength and energy so my body can keep up with my head.

This week my question for you is what do you do to make time for you? If you can't answer that its time you stopped and made time for you! Lets hear about it in the comments.

Voting is still going on for the Shape Weight Loss blogger, if you could vote I'd really appreciate it, no registration is required, its just one click and done! Thank you!

WELCOME

(back)

Chibi Jeebs & The Neurotic Struggle
http://www.chibijeebs.com/

I'm worth it

2011-10-16T01:20:00.003+01:00

I can't tell you how many light bulb moments I've had in my life but lets just say that those light bulbs could easily light up a small city. Tonight I found myself scolding my husband for adding something to Sadie's dish she shouldn't have, a tablespoon of rice. She likes it, he thinks she needs variety, he thinks he's making her happy and in the short term he is, she wags her tail and looks up with her happy face. The fact is, she's a diabetic. She needs to be on a very tightly controlled diet.

So where am I going with this? You'd think I'd compare it to MY diet but I've done that before, countless times, and a few more times. Been there, done that. This is the story of me neglecting myself mentally and spiritually.

I was on track with finding balance in my life and I let it all get out of control. I look up at the words I taped to my monitor, something will always seem more important, and well right now money seems more important than taking care of myself. Working seems more important than taking care of myself. So what happens when I'm force to spend long hours in front of the computer? I run to the kitchen and grab the first thing I see. I piece of candy, a few corn chips, leftovers, not always healthy choices. Last night when I was laying in bed and couldn't sleep because I was so mentally wound up, I made a decision. I need to SCHEDULE me time. I need to schedule my workouts, I need to schedule time to meditate. I need to take care of my temple.

Mentally, I'm exhausted. I've been keeping this pace for months with no end in sight. The only good thing thats come of this is that I've stopped being a doormat to so called friends. I've stopped putting up with being treated badly because I just don't have time to invest in people who don't have my best interest at hear.

Spiritually, I haven't been able to meditate. I can't silence my brain. I can't slow it down. I've had too many sleepless nights. Too many nights where I fall asleep for 15 minutes and then stare at the fan going around and around for hours. I've resorted to laying on the sofa and watching TV so I don't keep Ken awake. Somehow the TV background noise drowns out the mental whirl.

Bottom line, I need to make time to take care of my life. I seem to do really well with one aspect but not long term. I eat right but don't exercise. I exercise but don't eat right. I find spiritual balance only to let the other areas fall in disrepair. I need to get it all going together at the same time and work WITH my body and not against it. Yes I have physical limitations but I'm not handicapped.

Healthy quick grab and go foods
Work in small blocks of time to prevent burnout
Yoga
Walking
Meditation
Quality time with my family

Its a start. I'm worth it.

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 40, 2011

2011-10-11T01:09:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone! I hope you're having a great week. I'm staying busy and celebrating my 10th wedding anniversary on the 11th. Its going to be very low key (read we're broke still from Sadie's vet visits LOL) but having each other to spend the day with is enough :-)

Here is the part where I say thank you and please. A big thanks to whoever nominated me for the Shape Weight Loss Blogger Award and if you'd like to vote you can head over to Shape and vote (I know, crazy isn't it!) or you can read more about it on the previous post linked here I don't expect to win considering the great bloggers listed on the page but it really is an honor to be nominated. :-)

WELCOME!

Er... yeah... I think so...
http://eryeahithinkso.blogspot.com/

Shape 2011 Blogger Awards Nomination - Thank you

2011-10-08T00:50:00.000+01:00

I found out that someone nominated me for a blogger award so I wanted to say thank you. I really had mixed feelings about this and by mixed feelings I really felt like I didn't deserve to be nominated because the category is weight loss blogger. Yes I'm a weight loss blogger but my blog has been about my journey to find what works for me and what doesn't work for me and well, I've found a lot of what doesn't work and I'm still working on the what does work part. Bottom line I'm not an after...you know when people post their fabulous jaw dropping before and after photos. Its that after moment that I long for. I want to be an after!

When I looked through the other nominees I felt even more humbled, there are so many people there who I greatly admire and respect. I look at them and I see success and I look at myself and I see...a work in progress. I've lost and kept off 70 pounds but I still have a very long way to go. I guess I could look at this two ways, I can hang my head in shame for not being a success story or I can count my victories and know that my "after" photo is still in the works. Its also a pretty good kick in the pants to keep my focus and keep working towards that "after"

If you'd like to vote for Scale Junkie, you can just click the badge above or just go to this link on Shape 2011 Blogger Awards, its just a few clicks, nothing to register for you just tick the box and vote. I'd really really appreciate your vote, pretty please with sugar on top...ok, you're right, better hold the sugar!

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 39, 2011

2011-10-04T00:34:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone, hope you're having a great week! My life feels like a carnival ride, up and down, round and round. A busy end of the month deadline for me has turned into a beginning of the month crunch and it looks like its going to be another crazy busy month for me...which is turning into the new normal.

Goals for the week? Month? For me its to stay focused on the small picture and not let the big picture overwhelm me.

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 38, 2011

2011-09-27T00:19:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone! Ready for another great week? I know I am! Goals for the week? Victories? Share them all in the comments!

For the US residents, its not too late to enter for a chance to win the Perfect Meatloaf Pan giveaway I have going on right now. Deadline to enter is Noon EST 9.29.2011

First day of autumn

2011-09-23T23:52:00.001+01:00

The calendar tells me its the first day of autumn. The house feels cooler this morning and I look outside at the blue skies and think its possible but I only need open the door to feel the blast of heat to sink back to reality. The cool is as artificial as the smile on the face as the woman reading the morning news. I head to the grocery store to pick up a few items for dinner and while I ride there in an air conditioned car and walk around the air conditioned store, I can't help but notice that I'm not the only one tired of the summer heat. People look drained, I feel drained. We caught a slight reprieve a few weeks ago and took the dogs to the park for a swim. People are just nicer to each other when the weather is a bit cooler. I'm looking forward to that. Since I'm longing for the day a few weeks ago when we went to the beach, I'll share the photos with you and you can enjoy our beautiful day with us...if only in our dreams for today we turn the ac down just a little bit and wait for cooler weather.

Welcome to Phillipe Park, Safety Harbor Florida
the water is the north west end of Tampa Bay


Max left, Sadie right after rolling in the seafoam

Sadie very proud of her stick

Max stopping for 1/2 a second to pose

Ken and the puppers
Max left, Ken middle, Sadie right

The rest of the pictures in slide show for you to to watch if you want to enjoy the day with us <3

My meatloaf experience, a review and giveaway.

2011-09-22T01:10:00.000+01:00

Can you believe I've never made a meatloaf before this week? Its a pretty common food and I grew up eating it. As an adult it was one of the dishes my sister's "signature dishes" so its something I'd have at her house for dinner once in a while. Ken ordered it in a restaurant a few times but never asked me to make it...until the other day. I was looking at this site after being asked to try Perfect Meatloaf pan. I LOVE LOVE LOVE kitchen gadgets so I immediately said yes even though I'd never made a meatloaf I figured I'd try. Who better to be taste testers than my husband and sister.

Yes I said I invited my sister to dinner cooking one of her signature dishes when I knew the recipe wouldn't be anything like hers. I've had meatloaf cooked many ways, with brown gravy, with no gravy, with tomato sauce and with tomato soup. There are so many ways to cook it.

The book also has several other recipes for meatloafs, including a shepherds pie meatloaf which Ken wants to try next as well as a turkey meat loaf. It also has a recipe for placing stuffed peppers in the pan, a recipe that may be more ideal for a smaller family because the pan would only hold three to four peppers. The recipe for a Honey-Mustard Glazed Pork Loin looks quite tasty and may be a nice alternative to grilling in the colder months.

I decided to follow the recipe in the book for "Classic Meatloaf with red sauce and onions." I think I'd leave the onions off the top next time. I like onions but maybe I didn't slice them thinly enough but even after baking an hour in the oven, they were still a bit crunchy and I didn't care for their appearance, really just a personal preference. Over all this is only something I'd make if I were cooking for more than just Ken and I, the meatloaf recipes all call for 2 pounds of meat.

I followed the directions almost exactly. I did add a tablespoon of Worcestershire Sauce but that was a personal taste preference, I think it always goes with beef! I baked it for an hour, the outside slices were cooked, the inside was slightly pink. In the future I'll be sure to use a meat thermometer. Over all, the verdict was very positive. Even my sister liked it. She said it was different than hers but still very moist and flavorful. I made it on Sunday and Ken has had leftovers for lunch every day this week so far but its finally all gone. In the future I'd probably freeze part of it for future meals but since it was something he hadn't had for a while, he was more than happy to eat it a few days in a row.

So what makes the Perfect Meatloaf pan so special? Its two pieces, a pan and a rack that allows you to lift the meatloaf from the pan...as you can see below. The pan looks like a loaf pan but it has a raised bottom ridge to allow the rack to sit in the bottom. The rack has holes to allow the grease to drain into the bottom of the pan while it bakes. Genius!

yep, thats a lot of grease! I'm kind of glad my hand wasn't steady and this picture is blurry!

As you can see my meatloaf lifted right out of the pan and on to the serving dish without sticking at all. I was shocked to see how much fat was in the bottom of the pan, I used 93/7 ground beef. I thought for sure the meat would push down into the holes and make it difficult to remove but it didn't at all. Over all, I'm quite happy with this pan.

I did mention a giveaway didn't I? Here is what the winner will get: 1 Perfect Meatloaf pan and 1 Perfect Meatloaf recipe guide (knife shown on link not included)

Open to US Residents only.

Winner will be announced by 9.30.2011 so be sure to check back to see if you win. I will make every attempt to email the winner if they provide an email address. (you can write it out myemail at whoever dot com to cut down on spam or if you link to your blog and have an email address listed there I can use that)

Winner will be selected at random (I love random.org)

Deadline to enter is Noon EST 9.29.2011

To enter, leave a comment letting me know your favorite kind of meatloaf, sauce, no sauce, gravy, turkey or ???? Good luck!

Disclosure: I was given a Perfect Meatloaf Pan and Perfect Meatloaf Guide by Perfect Meatloaf and they are providing one for a winner who will be chosen at random. The opinions expressed are mine.

UPDATE: The lucky winner was commenter 2 upinthecosmos

Contact me ASAP with your address so we can get your meatloaf pan on its way to you!

upinthecosmos said...

That pan sounds wonderful! I love meatloaf, my mom made it all the time and all different sorts of ways. Not too long ago I tried a recipe for meatloaf muffins that was pretty great even. Just used a cupcake pan, it was nice little serving sizes:-) I think classic meatloaf is my favorite, with a beef gravy... mashed taters and corn:-)

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 37, 2011

2011-09-20T00:20:00.002+01:00

Hi everyone! I hope you're having a great month so far! I must have started five different posts this week but never finished any of them. Trying to find a balance between expressing my opinion and sounding as judgmental as the posts I was complaining about when I start to hear my Mom's voice in my ear saying "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all..." I hear you Mom!

I've started doing Walk Away The Pounds daily just before my lunch break, by the time I cook/heat lunch my body is ready for food. Its working out pretty good so far so my goal for this week is to start incorporating hand weights with the routine, I think I'm ready. What are you goals?

Stop back on WEDNESDAY, I'm going to post a review/giveaway and I have another possible giveaway in the works for later in the week too, just need to work out the final details. I love sharing goodies with everyone!

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 36, 2011

2011-09-13T00:47:00.001+01:00

36 weeks into the year, time flies doesn't it? My goal for this week is to NOT dwell on the past and live in the present while being mindful of future needs. I am FINALLY back on track again and it feels good. What are your goals for the week or month?

WELCOME

From Fat To Fabulous with Weight Watchers
http://fat2fabww.blogspot.com/

Excuseville

2011-09-12T17:51:00.003+01:00

Welcome to Excuseville population ME! Thats right I've been full of excuses lately and when I say lately I do of course mean the past two years. I've found reasons why I can't always eat healthy, why I can't work out, oh sure I've had moments of greatness and strong resolve but lets face facts here, I've been going the wrong way and ended up stuck in Excuseville.

(Yes its always this stormy in Excuseville)

You may be familiar with Excuseville, we may have even seen each other in line at the All You Can Eat Buffet but if you aren't, let me sum it up for you quickly. Excuseville is where you end up when you're good at lying to yourself and others. I just don't live there, I'm the reigning QUEEN!

Its pretty easy for me to take a look at the shelf full of workout DVD and remember that at least one of them would get played on a daily basis, to look back at my old posts where I was so full of determination and look at the clothes in the next size down that still hang in my closet waiting for their turn in my wardrobe rotation. When I think about what got me here I find myself saying, I got busy, I got a new job, I was too broke to buy healthy foods so I used coupons to buy whatever was on sale and hey it would be almost criminal to pass up 29cent BOGO chocolate chip cookie dough now wouldn't it? Thats less than 15 cents a tube! I started visiting recipe sites that were full of comfort foods because I needed some comfort. I needed to sooth something inside of me and doing it with food was like going home again. Before I knew it I'd fallen back into my old habits of eating and while it wasn't so bad, I'd also stopped exercising. It was a lose lose situation.

I recognized this behavior early on but I chose to ignore it, there was always something else to focus on instead. My blogging became infrequent. I all but stopped walking the dogs, Ken was doing that now. I was busy sitting in front of the computer working but the truth is, while he'd walk the dogs, I'd take that time to catch up with friends on Facebook or answer a few emails, things that could have waited but I just wanted some time to myself. Working from home is full of distractions. Its not that I didn't do anything positive for myself during the past few years, I most certainly did! I discovered a new talent in metalsmithing. Its a hobby that keeps my mind and hands occupied so I can't think about food but my workbench is in the very HOT garage and in the summer well, no funds for classes...the cool house was full of food...excuses come easy when you live in excuseville.

I'd say I was waiting for that a-ha moment that so many people talk about but that would be an excuse. The truth is I've had more than an a-ha moment, I've had years worth of a-ha's I could list from health, to physical, to shame so maybe I'm not an a-ha person. Maybe it doesn't work like that for everyone.

I worked for years in desktop publishing where we'd sometimes make mistakes and when we had to smooth it over I was the "go to" person for explaining why we did what we did, why we interpreted instructions that way. My bosses loved that I could justify just about anything and any situation, my personal life carrying over into work. Growing up my life was different from my school friends so I learned to slant the truth so that everything appeared normal (you mean everyone didn't do this? hmmm) and while sometimes this skill/character flaw comes in handy, these days I only use it to do harm to myself, mainly with making excuses as to why I haven't made progress towards my health and fitness goals.

I've made a little sign for above my desk. Not the words of a famous person or even a famous quote. It reads: something will always seem more important. I justified putting my health on the back burner because there always seemed something more important to do. There was always work that needed to get done, the house needed to be cleaned, I needed to spend the money on the dog or he needed to spend the money on this or that. When Sadie was diagnosed with diabetes I had to be the one to be responsible for her health. She couldn't do it, WE have to do it for her. I couldn't say "I'll do it later" It needed to be done NOW! Her health was at a critical stage. Well damn it so is mine! WAKE UP! How many 50 year old morbidly obese people do you see walking around healthy? 50 isn't that far off and if I'm going to keep spinning around the sun with everyone else. It was beyond time to take action!

This past weekend I was making a menu for the following week and I had canned salmon and I wanted to make salmon cakes. I did a search and I found a recipe for them on the Eating Well website and I thought to myself, wow I haven't been here in a long time. I started looking through some of my older menu plans from a few years ago and found some of the healthy recipes I made and started adding them to my menu again too. I made Tortilla Stacks the other night and Ken remarked that we hadn't had it in a very long time and that I should make it more often. When I was looking at the Eating Well website I thought to myself, I want to be that person again. I want to be the one who eats delicious healthy foods and why not?

I dusted off one of my Walk Away The Pounds DVD's and popped it in and did a 1 mile walk ....AND for the past TWO days I did it! Suddenly I feel full of hope again. I don't know if I've done too much damage to my body. I don't know if its too late for me but if I'm going down, I'm going down fighting and it won't be in Excuseville, I'm outta there!

For rent (cheap): 2/2 with citywide view of Excuseville. Season tickets to Excuses on Ice and the Excuseville Sluggers (they're 0 and 30 this year) also up for grabs one slightly dented tiara that may or may not have chocolate frosting and a bit of cake still embedded in it.

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 35, 2011

2011-09-06T00:23:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone! I hope you're having a great start to September! It was a holiday weekend here in the US and I've had a busy weekend but I've made good food choices so I'm happy about that.

I have two favors to ask for this week..

1. I've been asked to change my Facebook page to the "proper type" for its kind, its currently set up as a regular facebook page but I've been told it should be a page for a public figure so if you get a chance can you like the page? Scale Junkie Facebook

2. While you're on Facebook liking pages, can you do me a favor and like my husbands artwork page, KensArt? He needs 25 likes to get a Facebook URL (whatever that means LOL) He doesn't post often so its not like you'll get spammed with a ton of messages :-) He's started turning the stuff in our garage into creations to sell on Etsy to help finance Sadie's medical costs. Not asking you to buy anything, just like the Facebook page! (you can buy if you want but I'm just asking for Facebook likes to help him get a Facebook URL so he can further promote his business...yes I babble too much!)

Now on to the rest of it...check in time!!

The Many Faces of Max

2011-09-05T19:42:00.000+01:00

This post is dedicated to "anonymous" who was so bored they emailed me to tell me that they think I must have screwed up because the photos I posted and called "Max" are of two different dogs...as if I don't know my little Maxie face!

Really, I'm not confused, I haven't fallen and bumped my head, Max really is THAT cute and his face is very expressive. I know...you're honored to have seen such cuteness. Lucky you!

This is aptly titled...The Many Faces of Max

restoring equality

2011-09-01T02:23:00.001+01:00

This post is all about my dogs. If you don't like dogs please visit my Favorite Posts.

Sadie and Max are litter mates, they've been together their entire lives and they do everything together. When we call out BATH TIME, they run to be the first to jump in the tub. When they get their flea treatment we go through the little routine of each of us taking a tube of medication and whoever wanders up to me first, I take care of them while he does the other. They know the drill, they kind of lower their heads because they know it goes on the neck first and we move down the back, its always the same. If one gets a treat the other expects a treat. If one has been outside and the other inside they do a quick courtesy breath sniff to make sure the other hasn't had anything to eat without them, if they find there has been a food exchange they quickly head to the human who is responsible for this injustice and demand retribution. If one is getting a scratch on the butt, the other walks up and expects that other hand to get to work on their butt scratching needs. You have two hands human, use them! Life is all about equality!

Since Sadie's diagnosis she's been getting a bit more attention. Ok a LOT more attention. The day we had to rush her to the hospital, my sister was here and we left Max with her while we took Sadie. She said he searched the house for us, looking in our bedroom, the garage and even wanted to check the back yard. Thinking back I should have known what was going through his mind. Past trips in the car have been to fun places: the beach, ice cream shop, pet store, dog park, vacation to play in the streams of North Carolina. Surely that's where they're going with Sadie but why leave me home alone? I'm a good boy....Max is my sensitive little boy. I should have been much more aware of his feelings. Of course Sadie getting so much attention wouldn't go unnoticed.

(sad Max face)

Sadie has been getting injections twice a day. Its all new to us, she's taking it like a champ and we praise her heavily for sitting still for the needle. Max of course isn't sick and doesn't need injections but he has a hard time understanding why Sadie is getting something and he isn't when their whole life has always been a 50/50 deal. Share and share alike. He hadn't wanted to cuddle with me as much while I watched TV, I've had to call him over and coax him onto my lap. He didn't seem his happy self. One of the things Sadie would do at night was drink from the water bottle in her crate. (they're locked in at night so they don't try to invade our bed) I noticed one morning after we got back from our walk that Max was laying in his crate and drinking from his water bottle. A full fresh dish of water was just six feet in front of him there was no need for him to drink from the bottle. I remembered that the night before, just before we went to bed, I filled her bottle because it was empty but didn't touch his because it was still nearly full. He was looking up at me as he did it, he wanted to catch my eye! He was mimicking his sister who had been getting more attention!

We noticed after the first few injections he was hanging around, he walked up to me and lowered his head as if to say "go on...do it, give me my injection." He looked up at me and then lowered his head and I got this idea. I took the other end of the syringe, pulled up his fur and said I think I've found a good spot, told him it wouldn't hurt a bit, put the plunger end of the syringe on his but and pretended to give him an injection. I praised him for being a good boy and gave him a little pat and rub at the "injection" site just like we'd been doing with Sadie. He looked up at me with a happy puppy face and bounced off to get his ball.

(and this is what happy Max face looks like its all in the ears)

Can you see the difference?

I told Ken about this but he didn't listen (as usual) after he gave Sadie the injection the other night Max followed him around from room to room. He assumed Max wanted outside for a potty, opened the door but Max didn't go out, he just stared up at Ken. I was working at my desk when he pointed out that Max was clinging to him. I asked him "did you give Max his special pretendo injection?" Of course he hadn't. I called Max over and using a pen from my desk I carefully pulled the hair up on his shoulder and clicked my pen as I touched his skin. I praised him for being a good boy and he bounced off to play with a toy. Order and equality had been restored!

By request, here is a larger picture of the picture of Sadie and Max in my left side bar "personal trainers" Its one of my favorite pictures of dynamo duo taken last year on our trip to North Carolina. Sadie on the left, Max on the right. Yes their leash is caked in mud, they'd spent the morning dragging it through a stream! Best friends!!

Lessons I've learned from my dog

2011-08-31T04:18:00.000+01:00

A week ago tests confirmed that my beloved dog Sadie is a diabetic. It was one of those odd moments in life where you're shocked but at the same time not shocked. It left me feeling numb on the outside and screaming on the inside. I knew from my own experiences as a borderline diabetic what the warning signs were but when we took her in the vet had said Sadie was too young, she wasn't that overweight, it was summer and the treats we'd been feeding her may have been saltier and they basically made me feel like a crazy pet parent for bringing in a healthy looking dog.

Sadie has struggled with her weight for a few years now, just like I have. I've blogged about trips to the vet where I've felt those accusing eyes of seeing me as an obese person so of course my dog is obese those same eyes I've felt at my own doctor visits where I've heard the weight loss lectures. I specifically remember one trip to the vet where Ken and I talked to the vet and the vet looked right at me and started his lecture about too much people food and snacks. He hadn't wanted to believe me when I said that Ken was the one who fed the treats and gave them too much people food. I let him know I could see where he was going with this, you look at me and you see an obese woman and think that surely she is the one who is responsible for this poor dogs obesity. I think I got his attention and drove my point home when I pointed at my thin husband and said "look at him and now look at me, DO I LOOK LIKE I SHARE MY FOOD?"

But we changed, we cleaned up their eating, gave them less treats and put them on a diet. We started a weigh in chart and hung it on the side of the fridge just above the storage bin where we keep their food, an ever present reminder of the goal. Slowly their weight started to come down a half pound to a pound a month, we were making progress. Then a few weeks ago my sister was getting her Sadie greeting and she said "she's really lost weight, I can really feel her ribs." Our diet was paying off, we'd skipped a month of weight in and it had been about six weeks, we put her on the scale and if you've ever tried to weigh a 60 pound dog on a human bathroom scale it isn't always easy to get all four feet on the platform at the same time. Afraid of the ERR message on the scale, I made Ken get on both with and without her. I double checked the math. She had lost 10 pounds in six weeks the last week she'd gone from losing 1/2 a pound a month to 1/2 a pound a day.

I wasn't a crazy pet parent. Sadie had ketoacidosis. Too much ketone in her blood and she was indeed diabetic. I listened to the vet as he explained it all, I had questions but they'd have to wait, he said I needed to bring her to the hospital right away, it was a matter of life and death. I think on some level they felt bad making me wait all weekend for the results of the blood work. As much as I expected the results it still led to a very crazy few days of vet visits, learning to give insulin injections, working on a new feeding schedule and making sure she gets adequate exercise.

When I last had insurance a few years ago, my blood tested borderline diabetic. I tried for a while to clean up my eating and get back to regular exercise and I was doing great! When he lost his job and we lost our insurance, I went into a downward spiral. My blogging became infrequent. It was two years ago this month. Two years where I've neglected my health. Two years where I should have been saving my life but instead I abused my body even more. I justified it by saying I couldn't afford testing strips and when my doctor said he wouldn't see me again without getting the blood work he ordered spiraled even further into self destruct mode. No one cared that my health was at risk. No one would insure me so I stopped caring. Maybe I was worthless. Maybe my life wasn't worth saving. Its hard to explain how you feel living in a country with some of the best medical care in the world but you have no access to any of it, you don't matter. I felt invisible.

Yet when Sadie got sick, I moved heaven and earth to pay for her emergency care. I've cut more and more from our budget to pay for her vet visits and her monthly insulin expenses yet when it came to MY health, when it came to MY care, I didn't do that? What is wrong with me??? Just because I don't matter to the doctors doesn't mean I shouldn't matter to ME!

Sadie is a diabetic like a human type 1 diabetic. She will be insulin dependent for the rest of her life. She's adapted to the injections like a champ. The vet said that because we caught it early, Sadie doesn't really know she's sick. Sadie is a happy dog, if you bend down to pet her she'll thinks you want a kiss. She thinks going for a walk twice a day is AWESOME! Its not exercise, she's out having fun with her brother and her humans. She thinks the extra attention is a bit much but if it makes her humans happy, it makes Sadie happy. She does whatever we ask of her, no fuss. She does whatever it takes. Taking care of her has changed something inside of me, its hard to explain but I'm learning a lot from that sweet dog. .

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 34, 2011

2011-08-30T00:42:00.002+01:00

Hi everyone! End of the month busy for me. Hope you're all having a great week. Can you believe there are only four months left in 2011? What are your last quarter plans? Any new goals? My goals are two part 1. exercise more for my health and Sadie's, part 2. make more money to pay for Sadie's vet bills, Ken and Max...they're on their own, its all about the girls right now!

Welcome!

Fat Jeans Skinny Dreams
http://fatjeansskinnydreams.blogspot.com/

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 33, 2011

2011-08-23T01:23:00.001+01:00

Hi everyone! I hope you're having a great week and wrapping up August in a fun and healthy way.

If you live in the Southeastern US where there is a Publix grocery store, its not too late to enter to win a $25 gift card as part of the General Mills Great Deals on Great Meals going on now at Publix, details here Deadline to enter is this Thursday so hurry!

Thank you everyone for your kind comments on my weekend post, A Different Kind of Weight Loss Story, as I suspected, Sadie is a diabetic. I just found out today, had to take her to the hospital for immediate treatment because she had ketoacidosis, fortunately I had recognized the warning signs early and took what appeared to be a healthy dog to the vet. Fortunately I had been monitoring their weight as part of an overall effort to have them drop to a healthy weight but Sadie dropped 10 pounds in six weeks, had I not been monitoring her weight, the only other symptom was that she was drinking a lot more all of which could have been down to the salty treats and a hot summer. I'm very relieved its something we can manage with diet and insulin injections, stressed over worry about paying for all of this and over all just happy that she's going to be ok, that it isn't something much more serious like cancer which was the other possibility. I know I should have made another post for all of this but I know some of you were worried about her too.

And on that note, lets get checked in.

A different kind of weight loss story

2011-08-20T00:46:00.001+01:00

I've talked before about my weight loss and even how my dogs need to lose weight, especially Sadie. I've shared my revelations about food not equaling love and I've blogged about that uncomfortable feeling I'd get when I'd take the dogs to the vet and get the lecture about their weight while trying to convince the vet that my skinny husband was responsible for their obesity not me. Yes my dogs have a weight problem too so we started to monitor their weight and food more closely and we even hung their little weight chart on the side of the fridge.

Sadie weighed in on 7/6/2011 at 62.4 down from her high of 64 on 3/1/2011, I noticed she'd been drinking a lot and while she's had the nickname "the camel" for quite some time, her time at the drinking dish has become alarmingly long. Her activity level and appetite have been as strong as ever but still, she was drinking more and then there was the weight loss. Something just wasn't right. For a week I denied it, I put it down to the heat and she was just thirsty because its hot outside (air conditioning in the house but still she's out for walks and potty breaks many times per day) When something starts off subtle you can put it off and deny it for a while but then it gets to the point where you have to take some sort of action. I know a lot of people wait until their animal stops being active or stops eating to take them and had I not been the "Scale Junkie" and weighing myself and the dogs, I may not have realized her weight dropped so much so fast.

We weighed them again this week, Max was up 2 pounds, Sadie weighed in at 53 pounds, I made him check and double check but it was accurate. I started to worry and then I started to google and panic began to set it. She's lost over 14% of her body weight in six weeks. Nearly 10 pounds in 6 weeks, its alarming. I knew I'd need to wait until Friday to take her to the vet but still, I googled and read and what I saw just made me worry more. Its been a pretty much sleepless week.

Today we went to the vet to get her exam, the vet said that over all Sadie appears to be healthy for an almost 6 years old dog but to look at her eyes she would have estimated her to be about 7, I tried not to read much into that. Her activity level is strong as ever, her appetite is healthy, all positive signs but still, that amount of weight loss isn't normal. While there they detected she has an ear infection, I hopefully asked if it could be the root cause of her problem but unfortunately, they said it was highly unlikely.

If you know me or have read my blog for any length of time, you know how much Sadie and Max mean to me, they aren't just dogs, they are part of the family, they are my personal trainers (see side bar). They are my babies and I love them with all of my heart. To think she's sick and not know whats wrong with her, its more than I can take right now.

They took blood samples and a urine sample and have sent them off to the lab for analysis. Now we wait. We won't know anything until Monday and even then the tests may not be conclusive. They may need to order more tests, tests I have no idea how I'll pay for. I've gone over the worst case scenarios in my head. I've cried about the known and have worried about the unknown. I haven't slept much. I'm physically and emotionally drained. Waiting is hard.

If you don't know my story of how Sadie and Max came into our lives you can read their story here

Great Deals on Great Meals - Another Publix gift card giveaway

2011-08-18T14:40:00.000+01:00

Its time for another Great Deals on Great Meals and Publix gift card giveaway! I'm so excited I get to share with you some of my favorite foods and a gift card giveaway for my favorite grocery store! I've already stocked up on V8, Cheerios and Swasons stock. Are you ready for your turn? Keep Reading

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 32, 2011

2011-08-16T03:18:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone! Hope you're having a great week, my head is spinning in circles I'm so busy! I have posts to write and no time to write them, yikes! When you're busy, how do you find the time to do it all?

WELCOME

Pk's Journey
http://pksjourney.blogspot.com/

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 31, 2011

2011-08-09T00:20:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone! I hope your August is off to a good start and if you live someplace where its been very hot, that you're staying cool. Today our low was 85F (29Cish) I'm glad our high wasn't as high as some of the highs around the US but still, I really don't want to leave the house. I've been staying cool and hydrated by eating lots of fresh fruits and veggies. Cucumber and tomato salads with fresh basil, melon salads, etc and of course drinking LOTS of water.

I have two giveaways coming up so you'll want to check back later in the week for those. Check in and then leave a comment and let everyone know how you're doing.

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 30, 2011

2011-08-02T00:31:00.001+01:00

Hi everyone! New month, great time for a fresh start. Lets make the most of it! My goal this month is to get off the lazy train and get back to exercising! What is your August goal?

life on the edge

2011-07-27T13:50:00.000+01:00

When I was living in England we drove down to Dover to catch a ferry over to France. It was something I've heard for my entire life, the white cliffs of Dover. I'd seen them on TV, read about them in books, heard about them from my Dad but now I was seeing them for the first time and yes, they were everything I had imagined and more. We had some time to kill and wanted to see more, I wanted to stand at the top and look out over the straights of Dover. We pulled into a little unofficial observation area and looked out at the water, we couldn't quite see France because it was a misty sort of day but I could look down to the side and see the massive white cliff below me stretching on for as far as the eye could see with the cold water below. There was a trail and we walked along hoping to get a better view, taking pictures as we went and I couldn't help but notice what a steep drop down it was. There was one area that was closed off, it had an old wooden barricade that a few people ignored and walked around or over for a better view. I wanted to do the same. I spied a bit of white rock sitting over by the edge and if you know me and my fascination for rocks you know I had to touch it, I had to hold a piece of it in my hands, I had to stand on the edge. So around the barricade I went and I held that piece of rock and I stood on the edge, aware of the danger of the cliff breaking free and me falling to what surely would be my death but also feeling strangely comfortable on the edge, it had a familiarity about it.

As I stood there all those years ago I didn't realize why it felt so familiar but the other day we were watching a film and they showed the white cliffs of Dover and we paused to remember that trip and how I insisted we climb the barricade and get a piece of rock. It was in that instant that I realized that my diet has been on the edge for as long as I can remember. I have always known that the way I eat, the way I binge isn't healthy. There have been times when I've barely clung to the edge and yet somehow managed to pull myself back up. Its no way to live. I know this, yet I haven't been able to walk away. I've tried, I've had days, weeks, months of healthy, I think the longest I've ever stayed true to a "diet" has been about three or four months. I talked about fear and wonder if fear keeps me here. The edge isn't safe but its familiar, its what I know, I've been here walking this edge since I was about seven years old but now the path has grown quite narrow and unstable.

I've read so many diet success stories that have recounted that "ah ha" moment, that rock bottom moment that pushed them to finally make the changes they need to make. I know there is life away from this self imposed edge, I know I could turn and walk away and live a healthy life but something keeps drawing me back to that edge. I know that I can only stumble and fall and pull myself up so many times, I know my body can only take so much yet still I can't walk away. I know that death lies at the bottom of that cliff and while I'd never jump and take my own life, I have stayed on this path of unhealthy and its a slow road to death. Right now I feel like I've been clinging to the edge for a few years now, like my footing has slowly started to give way, I readjust and find a new foothold and hold on for as long as I can.

So here I am once again, throwing out the life line and putting it out there for the world to see. I'm ready to climb up to the top and walk away from the edge. I know it won't be easy, the further you fall the more you have to climb and I have a long climb. But I know there is a better life than this and I know I am worthy of a better life than this. I've let the demons take too much of my soul, I won't let them take another ounce. When people talk about living life on the edge, this isn't what they had in mind. I owe it to myself to see what life is like away from this edge.

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 29, 2011

2011-07-26T00:03:00.001+01:00

Hi everyone, last week in July, hopefully everyone has great plans for August. I'm trying to get back on track again, I've stumbled. I'm working on a blog post about it but I've started it and stopped three or four times. I hope to share it with you on Wednesday. The topic is fear. Do you have fears about dieting, weight loss, getting healthy? Have you overcome a fear that stood in your way? Lets discuss in the comments.

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 28, 2011

2011-07-19T00:13:00.000+01:00

Its a HOT HOT summer here in the northern hemisphere (at least in North America) and I haven't felt like leaving the air conditioned house but I do every morning to walk the dogs. One of the things I find very refreshing after a hot morning walk is peppermint iced tea! What are your summer time refreshing drinks or foods?

WELCOME!

Diane Jourdan-One Last Time
http://diane-onelasttime.blogspot.com/

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 27, 2011

2011-07-12T02:39:00.000+01:00

So here we are in week 27, the first week of the second half of the year. Lots of time to make 2011 a year to remember, what do you hope to accomplish by 2012?

Grilled Summer Vegetable and Barley Salad made with Knorr Homestyle Stock

2011-07-08T17:21:00.006+01:00

Summer is here and so are all of the wonderful fresh summer vegetables! Its a great time to take advantage of the produce stands and farmers market and stock up on colorful goodness. I was sent a sample of Knorrs Homestyle Stock concentrate courtesy of Knorr and Blogher with a challenge to create a recipe using the stock concentrate and here is my contribution: A brightly colored fresh summer salad made with zucchini, yellow squash, onion and tomato with a zesty lemony dressing and barley.

I'm a big fan of barley, its a great nutty tasting whole grain but if you're not you can substitute rice in its place. If you want more veggie and less barley, you can make the batch of barley as directed below, divide it in half and place half in a freezer bag and freeze for your next use. Just place in the fridge overnight to thaw. Don't like yellow squash? Try eggplant or asparagus any vegetable that you'd grill would would. This is a versatile recipe that you can adapt to fit your needs. The chicken flavor Knorr Homestyle Stock concentrate gives the barley (or rice) depth of flavor that really compliments the dish.

Grilled Summer Vegetable and Barley Salad

Barley

1 cup of barley (not quick cook)

3 1/2 cups water

1 package of Knorr home style stock concentrate

1 tsp olive oil

Bring water to a boil, stir in 1 package of Knorr home stylestock concentrate and once dissolved, add barley and olive oil, cover andsimmer about 40 to 45 minutes. Let sit for about five minutes to absorb anyexcess water.

Vegetables

2 medium zucchini chopped (about 2.5 cups)

3 yellow squashchopped (about 2 cups)

½ cup vidalia onion chopped

2 cup grape tomatoes

1/4 cup chopped parsley

1 tbls canola oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Toss all together but the grape tomatoes, place in a grillbasket and grill for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, after 10 minutesadd the grape tomatoes and grill another 5 to 8 minutes or until desireddoneness.

Dressing

½ cup lemon juice

¼ cup canola oil

1 tsp orgegano

2 tbls Dijon mustard

1 tbls honey

2 cloves of garlic

½ tsp salt

1/8 tsp black pepper

Place all but canola oil in the blender/food processor withsteel blade, whirl and slowly stream in canola oil to emulsify

Mix barley and dressing together while you grill thevegetables, mix in vegetables. This is a great salad to make ahead, it actuallytastes better on the second day.

I served it topped with grilled chicken.

Makes about 6 1 ½ cup servings.

I need your help

2011-07-07T19:53:00.005+01:00

Lately I've been so busy with work I haven't had time for me. I know that being busy with work is a good thing and I'm thankful to have work right now when so many, are not working. Here is the daily routine:

Out of bed, take meds, coffee, walk the dogs, eat breakfast while I check emails and then get busy working, stop for a lunch break, do any prep work I need to do for dinner, log back in and work some more. stop, cook dinner and then either work some more or do errands, catch up on a few things. Back in bed to do it all over again, I do this six days per week.

So how do you find time for everything? For me I work from home and set my own schedule so this should be a piece of cake...ok, so cake isn't the best choice of words when its the middle of the afternoon and I'm hungry but it shouldn't be so difficult. I'm trying to give myself better structure. I'm considering getting up an hour earlier to fit in a workout before I start working. I feel like I"m being pulled in 100 directions at once. What is your schedule and how do you fit it all in?

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 26, 2011

2011-07-05T02:10:00.003+01:00

Quick flyby HYC post in between the festivities! I hope everyone has had a great (long in the US and Canada) weekend and are ready to jump into July full force! Goals for July?

WELCOME

barnasstobabe
http://barnasstobabe.com/

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 25, 2011

2011-06-28T00:26:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone! Just wanted to wish you all a great week, I know this weekend will be filled with lots of holiday temptations for some of us, Canada Day, Independence Day but holiday picnics don't have to be license to pig out. In fact its a great time to fill up on hydrating fresh veggies and fruits! So whats your favorite healthy summer time dish?

One other thing for my US residents, I'm hosting a giveaway of Fiber One 90-Calorie brownies and a fitness themed gift pack. If you'd like to enter, head on over HERE

Fiber One 90 Calorie Brownie Review and Giveaway!

2011-06-27T20:55:00.002+01:00

I recently had the opportunity to try Fiber One 90-Calorie Brownies in two delicious flavors: Chocolate Fudge brownies are made with chocolate-flavored chips and topped with a dark chocolate-flavored drizzle, and the Chocolate Peanut Butter variety contains peanut butter chips topped with a peanut butter drizzle.

Tempted? I sure was! Want to enter to win two boxes and a fitness themed gift pack?...keep reading

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 24, 2011

2011-06-21T00:02:00.000+01:00

June 21, the first day of summer. Welcome to summer and what are your summer time plans (or wintry plans for our friends in the southern hemisphere) Summer here is super HOT HOT HOT so I tend to hibernate. I know its backwards but our weather is typically quite lovely from mid October to May so for me its staying inside in the cool comforts of AC, doing workout DVD's and dusting off the bowflex. What about you?

We have a welcome of someone who has been participating for quite a while. Its made me rethink the whole HYC thing and I think we're going to have to change things up a bit just as soon as I have time to change everything.

WELCOME

(officially)

AmbyLand

http://lifeuninteresting.blogspot.com/

Whats in your handbag?

2011-06-17T23:01:00.001+01:00

I was in the grocery store this morning and I had to stop and dig through my handbag to look for a coupon I thought I had leftover from a previous shopping trip, as I celebrated my find I heard a woman giggle a snickering kind of laugh. I turned to see the familiar face of my former next door neighbor. I knew an instant what she was laughing about. My large handbag! For years she had teased me about my super tiny handbags and questioned how I could possibly get anything in there. She's a few years older than I am and I'd always tell her that I wasn't like my Mom, that I wasn't old enough to have a big bag. Today looking down at the size of my handbag, mom would have been not just proud, maybe slightly envious of this monstrosity and all of its pockets and sections.

Before I go any further I explain a little bit better about Mom's handbag. We'd always joke that she had everything in there but the kitchen sink and it wasn't far from the truth. At amusement parks she could be counted on whip out the suncreen, an asprin, bandaids, spare straws, tissues, cough drops,sewing kit and even a snack or two. I remember once at a family wedding just before the ceremony the flower girl was walking around in a bridesmaids high heels, tripped and cut open her chin, broke one of the shoes and spilled her soda on the hem of the brides gown! I remember hearing mom scream my name followed with "GO GET MY PURSE!" I knew by her tone she meant business and I quickly sprung into action.

Using the contents of her handbag she was able to get the flower girl patched, the shoe glued back together and the stain removed all in a matter of about five minutes flat, then she sewed on a lose button. In fact when the TV show MacGyver came out in the 80's with the character would could make just about anything from a paperclip, duct tape and a straw we were pretty darn sure in a head to head competition Mom could not only keep up but teach him a lesson or two because not only was her handbag packed with necessities, it also seconded as a deadly weapon. While I can't confirm she kept a brick in there it sure was heavy enough to have one and heaven help would be mugger on the Philadelphia subway who got a little too close, the police did commend her on fast thinking and did a bit of a double take when she said she hit him with her handbag.

Unlike Mom who had to rely on her instincts to bandage a wound while removing a stain, gluing a heel while sewing on a button, I have my own brand of organized multitasking. Its all about being prepared. In my handbag I have the normal stuff like a wallet, makeup, hand sanitizer, but I also have room for a bottle of water, a packet of nuts and a protein bar. I can bandage a wound and soften dry skin. My handbag has something Mom's never did, a pocket for my smart phone! I may not know how to do all of those things Mom could do but I can look them up, find an app..or find the nearest 24 hour store. Besides my wallet and the obvious, I also have a roll of doggie poo bags, a collapsible doggie water bowl, (mom never had those!) three kinds of headache remedy, movie ticket stubs (Pirates of the Caribbean and Super 8) I also have a resistance band, prescription sunglasses and yes it could serve as a deadly weapon if needed!

What's in your handbag?

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 23, 2011

2011-06-13T23:56:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone! Here we are in the middle of June and its HOT HOT HOT here. Hopefully you're staying cool, I'm staying hydrated this summer are you?

WELCOME!

Apple A Day
http://anappleadayweightloss.blogspot.com/

Too Fat For 40
http://2fatfor40.blogspot.com/

Insomnia Tales: Adventures from Insomnia Land

2011-06-13T03:28:00.034+01:00

It happens quite often. I wake up from the slightest noise; one of the dogs having puppy nightmares, the enchanting sounds of ~~my husband snoring~~ the London symphony orchestra or the call of nature because yes I've been very good about drinking my water lately! And yes his snoring can be quite melodic at times.

Once I'm awake I have such a hard time going back to sleep. Often I get great ideas for projects I'm working on or fabulous blog posts that I should write that I quickly forget as soon as I wake up in the morning.

Last night was yet another adventure in Insomnia Land! A friend told me that instead of counting sheep I should try counting my breaths backwards from 60, most of the time I get to around 20 and fall asleep but not last night. Last night the more I closed my eyes, the more my mind raced. I remembered another friend saying that instead of closing her eyes she'd force herself to open her eyes and watch the ceiling fan spin and that holding her tired eyes open made her fall asleep.

Umm yeah I have a ceiling fan, what about it? Its a necessity here in Florida so despite all of those home improvement shows that can't wait to rip the fan from the ceiling and replace it with a tacky light fixture they've salvaged from three twigs and a metal hoop, I have a ceiling fan and I'm not getting rid of it...EVER so take that HGTV! In fact first thing in the morning I'm going to write letters to all of those people who do home make overs and remove the ceiling fans, what were their names again...

See what I mean about my mind racing on different topics when I have insomnia? Anyhow I decided to open my eyes and try my friends trick of watching the fan spin to make myself fall asleep. I no sooner opened my eyes and my head is suddenly filled with.....the wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round....I quickly slammed my eyes closed to make it stop but couldn't help but wonder where on earth that childhood song came from. I opened one eye..round and round round and round...CLOSED Insomnia was better than watching the fan spin and hearing that song in my head, I was keeping my eyes closed.

I rolled on my side, uncomfortable. I tried propping myself up on pillows, still uncomfortable. I tried yet another position on my side with my knee pulled up slightly...ahhh bliss, I was starting to feel sleepy already but just about then that last big bottle of water I drank was catching up to me and I thought to myself maybe just a quick trip to the bathroom before I try to sleep again.

I carefully roll out of bed without disturbing the husband, carefully without opening my eyes and miscalculate the position of the bed frame and stub my toe, with the sharp pain my eyes fly open and my head tips back, clamp my hand over my mouth to stop from screaming the obscenities that have filled my head and then what happens? I fixate on the ceiling fan and...the wheels on the bus go round and round...LOOK AWAY FROM THE FAN LOOK AWAY FROM THE FAN and I make my way to the bathroom, hobbling, bleeding but without looking up.

Now fully awake I turn on the bathroom light, wipe the blood from my toe and clean it up a bit with one of those disinfectants that sting like crazy because if its not stinging its not clear right? Pulled out the appropriate sized bandage opening the wrapping carefully because I know if Sadie hears something opening she'll wake up thinking she's missing out on food and then bark and wake up everyone! Bandage in place and blood flow stopped. The last time he went to bed without putting a bandage on his elbow we woke up and the sheets looked like a crime scene. I wasn't about to risk the 1200 thread count favorites but of course now I was even more wide awake than before.

After a drink of water and a cube of cheese (pepper-jack if you were wondering) I made my way back to bed, carefully avoiding the bed frame, careful not to look up at the spinning ceiling fan I crawl back into bed in my previously discovered perfect sleeping position. I'm feeling sleepy, Ken is gently snoring away and no wheels on the bus are going round and round in my head. I look over at the clock, its 1:23am. Sleep.... glorious sleep has found me and I'm on my way to what is sure to be a fabulous dream that has nothing to do with bus wheels, counting sheep, fabulous ideas or songs set to snoring. Just sleep.I'm out like a light...

...I wake up to "whats wrong honey? why are you awake" I open my eyes and exactly three minutes of sleep have passed and in some weird random delayed reaction he's suddenly awake and now that I'm finally asleep he's asking me why I can't sleep and in the process woke me up...AGAIN. I start to explain that his snoring had kept me awake and that I had finally just drifted back off to sleep and that his asking me why I was awake actually woke me back up again when just as quickly as it stopped the snoring started back up again. Its so unfair that he can just wake up and be asleep again in 10 seconds flat.

As I roll over from my side to my back I glance at the clock...1:42am, look up at the fan and....the wheels on the bus go round and round round and round.....here we go again.Think nothing, focus on your breathing, just relax and let sleep happen....and just like that, it did.

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 22, 2011

2011-06-07T00:23:00.031+01:00

Hi everyone. I hope you're all having a good week. I'm having a very busy summer, work is busy (thats a good thing) and I'm trying to make time for some fun too!

Anyhow, how are you all doing? First week of June is under our belt, I've managed to maintain my weight loss, had a bit of a health set back but I'm back in fighting form and ready to keep kicking this fat to the curb! How are you staying motivated this summer?

Welcome (back)

Finding My Weigh has moved to a new domain, please update your bookmarks/readers, etc.

Lessons learned along the way

2011-06-06T13:13:00.014+01:00

I suppose its inevitable that people would ask me for dieting advice, after all I've been blogging about my journey since 2007, however I want to clarify that my journey is not complete. You don't see before and after photos on my site because I'm not there yet. Yes I've lost and kept off 65 pounds for the past few years however I still have over 100 to go. Ok, since I'm being completely honest here more like 180 pound to go but as I said last week. I've learned so much and maybe thats why I had so many emails asking for my secrets. The truth is, there are no secrets but I've learned a lot of things along the way.

You don't get to be morbidly obese without a reason. If you're morbidly obese and your doctor has ruled out disease, you need to do the work and figure out why you over eat and then do whatever it takes to fight that battle.
Stay away from the fad diets. Yes I've been on all of the fad diets and YES you lose a lot of weight but let me tell you for every one of those drop a pound a day diets I've been on the weight has come back on at the rate of 2 pounds per day...or more. They screw up your body, your hair falls out, its NOT worth it!
Find what works for YOUR body and stick with it. Some people do better on low fat, some do better on low carb, some do best with just everything in moderation calorie counting. There is so much written out there by real experts, I'm not an expert, I can't tell you what will work for you.
Move your body! Build your core strength and get your heart pumping. Again, I'm not an expert but you can stop by my friend Mizfit's blog, she's the queen of fitness, a real life Fila model and has lots of great advice, videos, etc. Find a trainer in your area, ask your doctor what you should be doing for your body type/health/weight.
When they said patience is a virtue, I'm pretty darn sure they were on a diet and the weight was coming off too slow for their liking. You've all heard this before: you didn't gain the weight in a month, you're not going to lose it in a month.
That brings me back to finding what works for your body. You're going to have to make this a lifestyle change. You've got to be in this for the long haul, you can't just crash diet and lose weight and then go back to eating the portion sizes that made you fat in the first place.
Learn portion sizes. Buy a food scale, buy measuring cups, measuring spoons and spend a few weeks learning exactly what 3oz of meat looks like, I've found that the typical boneless skinless chicken breast I buy weigh from 7 ounces to 9.5 ounces raw. Most people I've talked to don't always weigh and measure, they spend a few weeks learning the portion sizes and eventually you can eye ball it. I recommend spot checking yourself once a month or so to make sure your portion sizes haven't creeped back up
All or nothing mentality has no place in your diet life. If you meant to eat three cookies but ate four and now feel like you've blown it or worse like you might as well finish the bag (been there done that) You've got to reexamine your way of thinking. Same thing goes with setting pounds to lose goals. Having pounds to lose goals are great but sometimes the body just isn't going to give up the same amount of weight each week.
If you're a binge eater/compulsive eater like I am, you know that you can eat when you're not hungry, you can eat to beyond the point of full, you know that you're stuffing yourself to stuff down feelings. There are better ways to deal with your feelings. Own your feelings, get help working it out, talk to a therapist, whatever ever you need to do. Don't use food as a drug.
Find something else to fill the void. For a long time I missed that numb and full feeling. I've found my passion for creating jewelery. I keeps my hands busy and I don't even think about food while I'm working on a piece. No I can't always pound on some metal to take away the need to eat but there are other things, sometimes I paint my nails (can't ruin that manicure with food) go for a walk...whatever, find a distraction that works for you.
Get support. Join a challenge, join a weight loss group, diet with a buddy or online friend. Staying accountable to yourself and others is great motivation.

I guess the one common theme in my list that this is a very individual journey. What works for your spouse, sibling, coworker or friend may not work for you but something will work, you just need to find it. Most of all you can't ever give up.

What lessons have you learned along the way that you can share?

Why I hate blogging (right now)

2011-06-01T14:52:00.018+01:00

Blogging started off as a way to keep track of my progress, it was meant to be personal, never meant to be so public. I started off with another friend; she had created a blog and suggested I do the same so we could journal our progress. We started off using a different platform which is why if you’ve ever perused my earliest entries there are several all on the same day. No I wasn’t turbo blogging, I was copying and pasting. My friend Monica talked me into trying blogger instead, she told me she liked it better but it would be a much more public forum. Anyhow…yes anyhow, I do tend to go off on tangents and over explain things but more on that later….anyhow eventually Monica quit blogging and I carried on. Soon I found that there were people actually reading my blog. Not a lot but still a few people, many of which I’m still very close to and stay in regular email/facebook contact. Eventually a few more people started reading, really fabulous people and one day I noticed that a lot of people were leaving comments on my blog yet these other fabulous bloggers writing fabulous posts weren’t getting the same kind of comments. Eventually I created the Healthy You Challenge to help connect other bloggers who might have similar goals or just want accountability. That was in January of 2008.

So here I sit in June of 2011. The internet is full of weight loss bloggers, success stories…and I am not one of them. I’ve managed to lose and gain the same 30 or 40 pounds over and over and over again for the past few years. I’ve ignored talk of blogging conferences, I’ve turned down trips to promotional events because I knew I wouldn’t fit in the plane seat. I’ve seen fellow weight loss bloggers go through gastric bypass and lose so much weight and look incredible. I’m not jealous, I’m happy for them, I truly am but at the same time I long to be a success story.

So what does that make me? The weight loss blogger who isn’t losing weight? A failure, a joke? I did quietly post that I’m down 20 pounds since April 11th when I made my big proclamation that I was starting a (yet another) personal weight loss challenge for 6 months because I wanted to see how much weight I could lose by my 10th wedding anniversary. But I’m not blogging about my weight loss because its not fresh weight loss, its relosing weight that I’ve already lost in the past, that I’ve already lost…to put it frankly, I haven’t moved on to virgin fat.
I’m less than 10 pounds away from moving into virgin fat territory. A weight I haven’t seen in so many years it makes my head spin. I feel like I don’t dare talk about it because honestly, is it fair to the few of you who are still reading, those of you who’ve heard me say over and over again that this time was different? No it is not, so I’m not going to say it. I’m just staying quiet and moving along, not blogging too much but full of thoughts and dreams of being an after: a success story.

That brings me back to why I hate blogging right now. I’m not done weight loss blogging but for those of you who’ve expressed concern over my lack of posts, I just wanted to put it out there for everyone to see. I won’t be a fraud. I won’t blow sunshine when I’ve felt this dark cloud over my head for so long now. My silence does NOT mean I’ve quit. My silence simply means that I don't want to repeat myself. I’ve spent the better part of the past two and a half years figuring out the whys behind my binge eating. I’ve spent that time learning about who I am and what I really want out of life. I’ve learned that I am still a Scale Junkie but its not the only thing that defines me or my life. But I can’t blog about how excited it feels to lose weight when its weight I’ve blogged about in the past. Does that make sense? I can’t promise you posts every day but I just wanted to let you know I’m not gone, slightly invisible, somewhat archaic and insignificant but not gone. I’m still here and moving in the right direction. While I haven’t made a lot of progress, I haven’t quit or given up and that has to count for something right?

On a final closing note today: be warned virgin fat, I’m coming for you, there is nowhere to hide, you will be eliminated.

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 21, 2011

2011-05-31T00:50:00.007+01:00

Hi everyone. 21 weeks into 2011, how are your plans going so far? I told everyone on Facebook so I thought I'd let all of you know too, I'm down 20 pounds and feeling so much better. I know I have a long way to go but I just wanted to say how grateful I am to each and every one of you for your support because without all of you and this challenge, I probably would have given up long ago so thank you all.

Goals for June? Plans for June? Lets hear all about it!

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 20, 2011

2011-05-24T23:58:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone. I hope you're all having a good week. The weather is really warming up in some parts of the country so drinking the water shouldn't be a problem for those of us who committed to drinking more water for the month of May...and I think I'm just going to extend that as my goal for the rest of the year and beyond, I really do feel so much better. Goals for this week? Challenges? Lets hear all about it!

Publix Grocery Store anyone? Do any of you have a Publix grocery store in your area and would like to enter to win a $25 gift card, check out the details of my giveaway, Great Deals on Great Meals Event, but hurry! Deadline to enter is May 24th at midnight est.

WELCOME!!

Just Another Fat Girl on a Diet
http://flabbymcfatfat.blogspot.com/

Kristy Gets Fit
http://kristygetsfit.blogspot.com/

Great Deals on Great Meals event at Publix plus $25 gift card giveaway

2011-05-17T23:49:00.009+01:00

Do you have a Publix grocery store in your area? If so you're not going to want to miss out on the Great Deals on Great Meals event going on now through May 29! Ready to learn more and enter for a chance to win a $25 gift card? Keep reading

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 19, 2011

2011-05-17T00:07:00.003+01:00

Hi everyone, May is moving right along, I'm doing great on my personal challenge and it seems like the weight is finally moving in the right direction for me. Still WAY too busy with work, life and everything else but I just want everyone to know that I'm doing good.

Goals for this week?

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 18, 2011

2011-05-03T23:48:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone. I hope you're all having a great week. I'm on track 100% for the first time in a while and I feel great. I've heard from a few of you that you're doing the same YEAH! Those of you who are struggling, this is a GREAT week to get back on track!

WELCOME

The Voices Within Unleashed
http://upinthecosmos.blogspot.com/

Six Month Personal Challenge Update

2011-05-01T14:30:00.022+01:00

On April 11 I took a look at the calendar and realized that in just six months it would be my 10th anniversary, not to mention a somewhat of a mini birthday milestone (read OMG how did I get to be this old?) I decided a six month personal challenge was the best way to tackle this because I always do better when working towards a goal.

Anyhow, there have been ups and downs but I'm committed to making the changes I need to make that are best for my body right now. I've put very strict structure in place because as I've told you in the past, I'm far too easy on myself when it comes to saying oh sure go ahead and have that, tomorrow is a new day, its far too easy to give in to that voice and well, I can't do that right now. People say be kind to yourself, I'm TOO kind. I'm too lenient . I give up too easy.

So enough of that. I just wanted to let everyone who is supporting me know that I'm doing ok. I know I don't blog as much anymore but I'm really doing ok.

As of today I'm down 15 pounds and I feel good.

162 days until my anniversary, I'll update along the way and let you know how I'm doing and who knows, I may even share some before and after photos :-)

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 17, 2011

2011-04-26T00:25:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone! For those of you who celebrate, I hope you all made it through the Easter weekend without too many detours. I had a few but today I'm back on track 100% and feeling great about my choices.

I wanted to make sure you all saw the giveaway that I told you about last week, its open to residents of the US and Canada and its an absolutely gorgeous book called Anjum's Eat Right For Your Body Type by Anjum Anand based on Ayurveda. If you've never heard of Anjum or Ayurveda, this book is a fabulous introduction and is the most visually stunning diet book I've ever read. If you'd like to enter, check out this post and leave a comment.

Now back to business. Lets get checked in for the week.

Anjum's Eat Right For Your Body Type by Anjum Anand - Review and Giveaway

2011-04-20T16:08:00.002+01:00

I have the pleasure of reading and giving away a copy of Anjum's Eat Right For Your Body Type (Courtesy of DaCapo)Before I even get started, I just have to say that I've looked at a lot of books in my life and by far this is the most visually stunning diet book I've ever read.My pictures do not do this book justice at all!

Anjum’s Eat Right for Your Body Type: The Super-Healthy Detox Diet Inspired by Ayurveda,. Some of you may know author Anjum Anand from the Cooking Channel program, Indian Food Made Easy but if not read on and I'll tell you more. The book offers 75 easy and flavorful low-fat recipes for better digestion, increased immunity, and to get your body naturally back in shape all based on your dosha.

• Balance your body type: vata, pitta, or kapha
• Detox your body of harmful impurities, or ama
• Choose the best foods to eat (and to avoid)
• Increase your energy while reducing stress
• Eat well for effortless weight loss

At this point you may be saying dosha? Ayurveda? Read on, the book explains it all in great detail and after reading it you not only have a full understanding of what foods best suit your body type but why.

Ayurveda, the oldest and most holistic medical system on the planet. Translated as “the science of living wisely and well,” Ayurvedic medicine teaches us how to maintain harmony within ourselves and with nature.

The first thing you do is figure out your dosha: vata, pitta or kapha by answering questions from the chart in the beginning of the book. The questions are based on your body characteristics, habits and personality and include things such as your body frame, weight, shape of your head and face, hands and feet, voice, nails, even down to your chosen profession and mental nature.

Features of the book include:
• An introduction to the principles of Ayurveda
• Information to help readers identify their Ayurvedic body type: vata, pitta, or kapha
• Menu plans and sections addressing specific concerns for each body type or dosha
• Recipes that can be adapted for each of the three body types

Did I mention the gorgeous pictures? I have spent hours just pouring through the recipes, which are all marked as to which would be best for each dosha as well as how to modify for each dosha, and looking at the gorgeous photos. If you're a visual person when it comes to food, you will love this book! Most of you know that I strive to eat healthy and life a holistic lifestyle, this book has brought a new dimension to my eating not only with the flavor combination but with the "aha" moments when the recipe made with flour tortillas suggests that a kappa (like me) eat corn tortillas. Something that I had figured out on my own but now it makes sense and I was able to look at other recipes and see what other healthy exchanges are best for my body type.

There is far too much to go into in just one post but if you're looking for a super healthy detox diet, try this one inspired by Ayurveda. For more information or to purchase check out DaCapo Press Cookbooks

Now for one of my lucky US and Canada readers I'm offering, courtesy of DaCapo, a copy of Anjum's Eat Right For Your Body Type
To enter you must be a resident of US or Canada, leave a comment below and tell me why you want to try a diet inspired by Ayurveda.

Deadline to enter is midnight EST April 27th, winner will be chosen randomly and announced here on the 28th, so be sure to check back to see if you won, good luck!

Comments are now closed: Congratulations to Kelty. Contact me at scalejunkie at gmail dot com with your name and address so you can get your book!

Keltysaid...: This book looks amazing! I would want to try a diet inspired by Ayurveda, because I really do think that we're all inclined to eat or satisfied by different things. Maybe this could take some of the guesswork out for me and make it even easier to eat in a conscious way!

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 16, 2011

2011-04-19T00:36:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone! I hope your April is going good. Passover is here and Easter is just around the corner which means there may be some temptations to overindulge in your near future. Be sure to ask yourself if its worth it before you give in to big temptation.Make this a week for moderation.

Stop back by my blog on Wednesday for another giveaway...good news for my Canadian friends, this one is open to US and Canada!

WELCOME!

Biggie to Smalls
http://biggy2smalls.blogspot.com/
Challenge Accepted
http://lcmancinichallenge.blogspot.com/

My Journey To Fabulous
http://deesdroppingtheweight.blogspot.com/

veggin my way to Skinny
http://vegginmywaytoskinny.blogspot.com/

Becky Blogs
http://beckyperry.us/

Mummy Fiercest
http://mummyfiercest.blogspot.com/

Skinny Sarah
http://skinnysarah.com/

Barb aka The Tortoise
http://www.thetortoisesweigh.blogspot.com/

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 15, 2011

2011-04-12T00:24:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone! I'm back and ready for another great week! I thought I needed to challenge myself and since my 10 anniversary and *((@$#%*@($# birthday are only six months away, I thought what better than to give myself six months of progressive challenges and what great motivation to stay strong through the summer months when so many bloggers disappear and are never seen again...this won't be you will it?

I also wanted to note that I'm participating in a book tour and just read and reviewed the book Body Confidence, maybe its what you're looking for to take your body to the next level? Check out my post here.

WELCOME!

Just Call Me ThunderThighs
http://justcallmethunderthighs.blogspot.com/

I'm Too Sexy For This Fat
http://thisfat.blogspot.com/

Asking Why Not Me!?!?
http://askingwhynotme.blogspot.com/

1 lb down, another 100 to go!
http://jamies100togo.blogspot.com/

six month personal challenge

2011-04-11T17:14:00.000+01:00

I started to write a post for today but it really ended up sounding like: Pity Party...your table for one is ready. So I stopped. I just stopped and let my mind clear.

I'm having one of "those days" but I'm typically the type of person who would rather write that the glass is half full so I'm looking for the bright side in today. But the truth is I'm struggling and I have been for quite some time. In fact I found myself wondering why the heck do I even blog? Why should I bother and seriously considered hitting the delete button on my entire blog...but I didn't. Instead I started reading over some of my past posts. Some of them were quite self serving while others really looked deep inside and with that I realized just how therapeutic this blog has been for me on so many levels.

One of the thoughts that went through my head was the typical...if you had just stuck to your diet back then you'd be at your goal by now instead of heavier than or at the same weight as when I started. Sure its easy to beat yourself up and tear your self esteem down but instead why not look at what you've accomplished? I have an eating disorder, I've made no secret of that but I've made HUGE strides in understanding why I binge eat and I've drastically reduced my binge eating. While drastically reduced may sound like a failure consider this: in the past I'd binge eat daily, now its maybe once every few weeks.

I've found my passion for making jewelery and metal-smithing! Sure most of the other students (and by students I mean grown damn women who are older than me) are a bunch of mean girls who hate me and think fat is contagious but I'm good at it and I love it and I'm not going to quit! Pah, as if I'd ever back down to a mean girl, never have, never will! Finding my passion has filled a huge hole in my life.

And then I looked at the calendar. Today is April 11, 20011....182 days or 6 months until my 10th anniversary. Have you seen the show Heavy on A&E? They transform their lives in six months and so many of them have done an amazing job. Now you know I like a goal and a challenge so today I am starting my 6 month countdown to my 10th anniversary challenge! What does this mean? Six months of doing my very best to treat my body with kindness and care, to challenge it and push it to its limits and make it strong, flexible and leaner. Six months to build an amazing foundation for the rest of my life.

Time until Tuesday, October 11, 2011 (Tampa time)

182		days
4379		hours
262794		minutes
15767643		seconds

I'm making a chart with starting weight, taking my measurements, setting fitness goals and creating healthy menus! I KNOW what to do, I know what works for me, I have all of the resources at my fingertips. Time for me to get to work!

you crave what you eat

2011-04-07T15:58:00.002+01:00

A few days ago I posted on my Facebook status that someone needed to call the doctor because it was 10am and I was eating a salad because I had been craving a salad all morning. One of my very wise friends responded with "you crave what you eat." I read it quickly from the tiny screen of my phone and quickly moved on with the rest of my day. For some reason my mind kept going back to that phrase. You crave what you eat.

I found myself thinking back over the past year and I thought about some of the foods I'd eaten and immediately craved more of, the sugar and carb combo my body knows so well (and the sodium) and yes I've read the science behind it, I know that its my pancreas secreting insulin and the surges in my blood sugar and all that (yeah not so scientific of an explaination but you can google it) When I was eating candy I wanted more candy. Fruit that was previously my go to sweet snack sat untouched. I didn't give it much thought when Ken asked why I wasn't eating the strawberries he bought for me "I love thought you loved strawberries why haven't you touched them" he said with a bit of confusion. It IS confusing especially when I know how good I feel when I eat healthy foods so why would I let myself fall back into the habit of eating junk? Why do any of us do that?

Gradually I started making the healthy switches again. I'm back to my old habits, I've ditched the highly processed foods that had crept back into my diet and I had been making delicious main course salads several nights per week which would explain the salad cravings. Yes I'm eating fruit instead of candy again. All in all my eating habits had become something I'm proud of again.

That brings me back to what my friend said: you crave what you eat. How true is this? I will carry that saying with me now and know that if I want to eat better I need to just stop thinking about it and start doing it and my body will follow. Eat junk, crave junk. Eat healthy, crave healthy. What are you craving?

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 14, 2011

2011-04-05T00:01:00.000+01:00

Hi everyone! I hope your April is off to a great start. I know a lot of parts of the US have had some rough weather over the past week with more to come this week, stay safe everyone!

I'm hosting another giveaway, this one is for the Quantum Scale and you can enter by reading this post before this one or by clicking here to get to the Quantum Scale Review and Giveaway post, giveaway is open to US residents only but stay tuned, I have a different giveaway for perhaps the most visually stimulating diet book and cookbook I've ever seen coming up later in the week that is open to US and Canada and I can't wait to tell you all about it!

I know many of us celebrate Easter or Passover this month and many of you may be dealing with spring break or kids on spring break so what are some of the ways we can stay focused this month?

Quantum Scale Review and Giveaway

2011-04-04T16:26:00.002+01:00

Have you heard of the Quantum Scale? Maybe you've seen it on the Dr Oz show or Tyra Banks? Are you thinking what is so special about this scale when it looks like just another normal scale? Well its not quite like your typical bathroom scale, in fact it doesn't show your weight at all!

Here is how it works: the first time you get on the Quantum Scale it records your weight but doesn't display your weight, from this point on when you get on the scale it will show you either a plus or minus number showing what you've gained or lost but again no number. Now I know this might seem a bit odd because so many of us are fixated on getting to a certain number on the scale but thats sort of what makes this so special. It takes the fixation off the number and just shows you if you're going in the right direction, up or down. It displays your pounds lost (or gained) and the cumulative number each time you step on the scale. No actual weight.

I recently had a conversation with Ashley from Opposite of Thin and she was telling me she was nearing her wall number, maybe you have one too? She blogged about it so you can read her story. But the wall number is that number on the scale that you just can't seem to get past, you know its a mental block because I have a wall number too and in the past few years I've been within three pounds of that number but never under so I know self sabotage or a mental wall is coming into play here. Although Ashley has broken through her personal wall (YAY Ashley!) I couldn't help but think of her and others going through the same thing and how this would be an awesome tool for this purpose. With the Quantum Scale it takes the fixation off of that number.

Now I know this scale isn't for everyone but for people who have found the scale is their worst enemy but they can't give it up, this can be an invaluable tool and thats one of the things I really like about this scale. It also comes in a variety of colors, fun colors, it weighs in .1 lb and .05 kg increments and its very easy to use. I really think it would also be a great way to break out of a rut if you're bored with your regular scale.

Overall I really like the Quantum Scale but there are a few things that may be cons for some users and first off is the maximum capacity of this scale is 330 pounds. Another potential problem is that its a one user scale so if you have multiple people in your household who are using a scale, this can only be used by one person. Again these may not be cons for everyone but I wanted to point them out.

The opinions, review and images in this post are my own personal thoughts on this product based on my personal experiences trying this product. This product was provided to me free of charge by Quantum Scale. They also provide the scale offered as a giveaway in this post to one of my readers.

GIVEAWAY

Now I did mention a giveaway didn't I? To enter simply leave a comment telling me why the Quantum Scale would be a useful tool for you. Winner will be selected randomly. Open to US residents only. Deadline to enter is midnight EST on April 10th, 2011, winner will be posted so check back on the 11th to see if you won.

Giveaway is now closed! Congratulations to BECKY who said:
I am fixated on the number on the scale and let that number determine my mood each day. I wonder how this would make me feel. I have lost 200 pounds totally on my own and I can't live without the scale. I am maintaining right now and think this would be a great tool.

Becky please contact me at scalejunkie at gmail dot com with your name, address and phone number (for FedEx/UPS delivery purpose only, no one will call you unless they can't find your house!)

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 13, 2011

2011-03-29T00:03:00.001+01:00

Hi everyone, hope you're having a good week! I had a pretty eventful meet up with two fellow bloggers, Natalia who is part of the HYC and Cammy who was one of the very first members of the HYC, if you'd like to read about it check out my post titled Brunch and BOOM and check out their blogs and read their posts about it too. I know people have said some of the stories I tell on my blog are pretty out there, this one doesn't disappoint and hey I have witnesses and pictures!

Anyhow...goals for the week? I'm trying to get in more water and count calories for everything I eat. I'm weighing and measuring my food for accountability to remind myself of portion sizes too.

WELCOME!

Running On Healthy

picking up what you need and leaving the rest behind

2011-03-28T18:32:00.001+01:00

Why is it every time I'm feeling germaphobic* in public I get an overwhelming urge to rub my eyes? Why is it it always happens when they are out of shopping cart sanitizers and I've forgotten to put my little bottle of hand sanitizer in my handbag? Of course all of this is compounded by the conversation I had with Ken just before I left the house.

Ken: there is a superbug in California and its resistant to every antibiotic
Me: oh that isn't good
Ken: its called CRKP bacteria
Me: I'm going to the store do you need anything?
Ken: No but make sure you wipe down the shopping cart, do you know there are more germs on the shopping cart than there are on a toilet seat?

I should have prefaced this by saying that Ken has never suggested I wipe down the shopping cart before and we live in Florida thousands of miles away from California but it really made me stop and think about how easy it is to pick up these germs. Of course I get to the grocery store and they're out of cart wipes, oh sure I could have gone to customer service and they would have been happy to put out a new container but I was in a hurry.

The Challenge: Getting in and out of the store without picking up anything I didn't need, be it germs or food!

So there I was in a store full of food, kind of like a drug addict with free access to the pharmacy. I will admit that I go through periods of feeling very strong resolve and know that eating healthy is the best thing for my body but I will admit that lately I've been struggling...struggling a lot. Last night I was having fantasies about a bag of corn chips and salsa and yes I hear you saying everything in moderation but I'm like the drug addict who can't stop. I wish I could but I can't. When it comes to certain foods I have to limit myself to the single portion size or just avoid it all together. But last night...wow. Ken was home, had he not been home I would have been in the car and at the corner store stocking for a binge fest. But I promised myself that I would try harder. I promised myself I would allow myself to eat what I wanted as long as I counted the calories and kept them within the range I need for weight loss.

I asked him to go to the store with me because I wasn't sure I could trust myself but he was busy working and really couldn't take time away to go to the store so I went on my own. There it was, the smorgasbord and everything I could imagine, right there in front of me and I could buy it all. I walked down the cracker and cookie aisle and I wasn't even tempted, I walked down the candy aisle without hesitation. I needed whole wheat rolls and that meant a trip to the bakery section where they conveniently have the frozen ice creams and novelties but once again, I wasn't tempted. How can I go from yesterday and wanting to binge to today feeling strong and resolved?

For starters I didn't go to the store hungry. I had a healthy breakfast before I left for the store. I also made a list and planned to stick to the list without exception. Finally I planned a menu for the week carefully balancing out my calories, fat and carbs with a good amount of variety including several treats. I didn't need to focus on the food because the plan was already in motion. I knew that DIET didn't have to mean deprivation or starvation. I'm making creative and healthy meals that are satisfying. I made it in and out of the store and only came home with what I needed. No empty calories here! I'm not where I want to be health wise or fitness wise, I'm a work in progress, this isn't a race and there is no finish line. This is my life and I feel happy.

*Dear Firefox spell check maybe germaphobic isn't in your dictionary but your suggestion of hermaphroditicis, whoa!!!! NOT even close!!

as luck would have it...2011 edition aka Brunch and BOOM

2011-03-24T20:06:00.003Z

In May of 2009 I wrote a post titled as luck would have it about meeting up with Cammy from Tippy Toe Diet and Natalia from Embracing the Weight Loss Journey today I got to meet up with both of them again and the title "as luck would have it" seemed VERY fitting for the turn of events that followed.

First of all I just want to say I feel so honored and blessed to have spent several hours in the company of these two lovely ladies. I get to see Nat often because we live in the same area but seeing Cammy was a special treat for both of us, we were like excited giddy little school girls in anticipation of Cammy coming to town. If you've been lucky enough to meet Cammy at a blogging event you already know this but for those of you who haven't met her, she has the warmest personality and is such a beautiful person inside and out and its like she sparkles, she radiates this warmth and is true pleasure and joy to spend a few hours with.

We had a lovely time, the last time we got together for coffee and it was quite memorable not only because we got to meet Cammy but because there was a man at the next table who just kept joining in our conversation...from the next table over...he was eaves dropping and then felt the need to comment. It was amusing and memorable so who knew what today would bring.

As luck would have it I suggested First Watch which has a wonderful section of the menu called "The Healthier Side"...yeah I didn't order from that section, I had a salad but Nat and Cammy both did with some slight modifications. One of them ordered the Lean Machine which is Two cholesterol - and fat-free eggs, seasoned turkey patty, tomato slices and a dry English muffin...but instead of the cholesterol free and fat free eggs she got regular, instead of the seasoned turkey patty she got bacon and instead of the tomato slices she got potatoes but damn it she had a DRY English Muffin, the waitress politely suggested that maybe she might just order "The Traditional" breakfast since the unbuttered muffin would be the only modification to that menu item, she agreed but we all insisted that she had to called it the LEAN MACHINE when she brought it to the table, us healthy blogging girls have standards to live up to you know!

We laughed and chatted about our lives and events going on in our lives. Cammy came back from the a bathroom break (no we didn't talk about her while she was gone) and started laughing because she was thinking about my handbag story and as luck would have it I was carrying that very same handbag so I got to demo how the handles fell down and activated the auto sensor.

We were laughing and laughing and having such a good time and then all of the sudden there was an EXPLOSION! It was absolutely surreal, it was like something out of a movie, my back was to the noise but I could tell from Cammy and Nat's face that I needed to whip my head around FAST! I heard someone behind me say it before I saw it, a car had crashed through the wall about 15 feet from where we were seated. Several minutes of chaos and confusion, there was a cloud of plaster dust, twisted metal, people shaken up and there were firemen outside! Cute firemen according to one of the waitresses.

I don't think it hit me right away and I didn't notice it but my heart was racing just a bit for a minute or two. We made our way outside to see a big black Mercedes backing out of the wall...because you know, if you just back up a bit maybe no one will notice you put a giant hole in the wall.

No one was injured seriously in the crash inside or outside. When the crash happened Cammy saw the people who were sitting at the table in front of the window sort of jump up and fly backwards out of the way. I talked briefly to the woman who was sat in the booth with her back to the wall and she got a good jolt. But I did mention cute firemen didn't I? A fireman walked by and he was ok but not fireman cute asking if people were ok and of course we said we were but Nat was all prepared and ready to rip her blouse open to have her heart checked but that darn cute fireman never did walk by...oh well.

Before everything happened I was going over in my head what I could name a post about brunch with Nat and Cammy but after the crash Brunch and a BOOM was looking like a winner....and then I looked up the old post from the last time we saw Cammy and it was titled As Luck Would Have It and well, it just seemed fitting considering the circumstances of the day.

And of course no post like this would be complete without pictures so here you go :-)

Edited to add the link to the local news story...a title not nearly as catchy as mine I might add :-)

Woman hits gas, then building in Clearwater

I'm not sure when Cammy is coming back to the Tampa area but THIS is going to be tough to top!

Replacing cravings with healthier options

2011-03-23T15:02:00.000Z

What is it about dieting that suddenly makes everything you know you shouldn't eat sound appealing? Even if you had zero desire to eat that food when you were in the midst of a free-for-all? We were walking through Costco the other day stocking up on some healthy basics and in the frozen section they had several Asian inspired dishes and something inside of me suddenly wanted to buy one of each and a box of egg rolls too. Seriously, what exactly would I do with 18 egg rolls besides stuff them in my face over the course of a month (or a week) NOT HEALTHY, NOT part of my plan.

I walked away but it got me thinking back to a conversation I had with Ash from The Opposite of Thin about making our own take out. I adore fried rice but hate greasy foods so I used leftover brown rice, a bag of Asian blend frozen veggies, a bit of leftover chicken and cooked it up and drizzled it with sesame oil and and a dash of low sodium soy sauce to give it the taste I was looking for and WOW was it ever good. About 2 cups of veggies to 1/2 cup of brown rice, you know in take out the proportion would have been the other way around but I was so satisfied with this meal, not only did it address the specific craving, it was healthy and tasted great!

Last week I made extra brown rice and froze it in 1/2 cup portions and cooked up a veggie and rice stir fry similar to the fried rice. I wasn't sure about frozen rice but frozen dinners have rice so why not? I used the smaller freezer bags and while my veggies were cooking, I put the bag in a bowl of hot tap water, changed out the tap water with more hot water once and sort of broke the rice apart, it was perfect!

The other craving conquer was chicken wings. I never wanted chicken wings during my eating free-for-all but here I was trying to eat healthy and suddenly chicken wings sounded appealing. Instead of giving in to this craving I turned to my recipes instead. I came up with a spicy marinade for shrimp a few years ago and thought it would work for chicken too. I cut chicken breast into strips and put it in this marinade grilled them and put them on a salad with romaine, cucumbers, celery, shredded carrots, tomato and topped it with the grilled chicken and low calorie blue cheese dressing. AMAZINGLY tasty and so much better than greasy chicken wings could ever be.

Slowly but surely I'm retraining my body and my taste buds. Things that were once treats I wouldn't dream of eating because I read food labels now and my tastes have changed. It doesn't happen over night but it can happen if you make gradual changes and learn to listen to what your body needs.

There have been several foods that I've conquered this way. In fact, I rarely want to go to restaurants at all anymore because I find the food too greasy or too salty. Eating healthy isn't a punishment, its about eating what you want with healthy modifications. My challenge for you is to find a way to take a craving and conquer it with a healthy option. What are some of your favorite healthy swaps?

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 12, 2011

2011-03-22T00:32:00.000Z

Welcome to another week! I'm still here, trying to stay focused and stay on track. I hope all of you are doing the same. I'm crazy busy with work so I'm keeping this short.

To the person who emailed to join HYC, your blog link is invalid, if you've changed your mind no worries but if you want to join, please email me again.

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 11, 2011

2011-03-15T00:06:00.000Z

Hi everyone! I hope you've all had a good week. I know you all join me in sending good thoughts to all of our fellow bloggers from Japan, its been one heck of a week.

I'm hosting another giveaway, this one is for Weight Watchers Cheese, if you are a US resident and would like to enter to win, head on over to my Weight Watchers Cheese Review and Giveaway post to leave a comment for your chance to win.

WELCOME!

Get Fit With Kiki
http://www.getfitwithkiki.com/

Lanae's Way
http://lanaesway.blogspot.com/

Future Fit Girl
http://www.futurefitgirl.com/

Lolly Blabbin
http://lollyblabbin.blogspot.com/

Weight Watchers Cheese Review and Giveaway

2011-03-14T12:27:00.000Z

I recently had the opportunity to try the soon to be released Weight Watchers Smoked Flavor Light String Cheese, only 50 calories or 1 PlusPoint as well as the Colby Jack and Cheddar flavor cheese sticks and I'm very excited to share my review with you and give one of my readers the chance to win the same gift pack I received from Weight Watchers Keep Reading

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 10, 2011

2011-03-08T00:23:00.000Z

Hi everyone! How is your March going so far? Mine is off to a pretty good start after several weeks off and on I'm happy to say that this past week has been ON and it feels really good to feel really good again. The reason why I'm telling you this is because I need every reminder of how good I can feel when I fuel my body instead of stuff my body.

I had the opportunity to try the new Weight Watchers Ice Cream bars and yes I've managed to stay on track while enjoying them! Even Ken who hates all "diet" food loved them, especially the Dark Chocolate Dulcé de Leche (yes they really are that good and only 120 calories or 3 WW points)

I do have a giveaway coming up later this week or early next week for Weight Watchers cheese and a fabulous gift pack so you'll want to check back and sign up to win for sure! Yes I'm feeling the love from Weight Watchers lately and who knows they may even convince me to try their PointsPlus way of life.

Enough of that, lets hear about you! How has your week been? Any victories to share? Struggles? Lets hear all about it in the comments!

WELCOME

Get Fit With Kiki
http://www.getfitwithkiki.com/

Permission to binge?

2011-03-07T00:04:00.002Z

Today I went to the store to pick up some last minute things I needed for dinner. With the Easter holiday coming up at the end of April there is no shortage of bunny and egg shaped sugary confections lining the aisles of the grocery store, in fact when I entered I was visually assaulted by a wall of pastel bags and shiny foil. I quickly turned my shopping cart and pointed it towards the back of the store where I knew I'd find the bowls of fresh cut fruit.

I knew I was on dangerous ground because my most favorite of all Easter candy, the Reeses Peanut Butter Eggs had already caught my eye but I wasn't prepared for what waited for me when I reached the end cap of the aisle...BAGS of peanut butter eggs, not the little tray with 6 individually wrapped eggs but instead a bag with dozens of peanut butter eggs. I didn't want to look, I didn't want to linger but a slow moving elderly woman followed by a dad and his SEVEN young children left me staring at those bags for a bit longer than I would have liked. My inner dialogue went a little something like this:

put them in the cart
no I have fruit
put them in the cart now
I really want them
you deserve them, put them in the cart now
they aren't good for me
just reach out and get them, everything in moderation
yeah that hasn't worked out so well for me in the past, I shouldn't
yes you should just reach out your arm and put them in the cart NOW
I could hide them, no one would need to know, I could eat them in secret
yes, get them, put them in the cart NOW

Of course this whole inner battle lasted less than 5 seconds but it felt like an eternity while it was happening. I resisted the temptation to pick them up but I still couldn't get them out of my mind.

I paid for my purchase but as I made my way home all I could think about were those damn peanut butter eggs. I told myself there was a CVS on the corner, I could stop in, quickly grab the candy and before I made my way back home have it securely hidden in the bottom of my handbag, no one would ever need to know. It would be my little secret. As I sat at the traffic light fantasizing about candy my voice of reason finally stepped up to the plate and gave my candy monster voice a little dose of reality.

Sure I could buy the candy, hide the candy and eat the candy and no one would know but me. I could dispose of the evidence, I'm very accomplished in that sport. But what would that do to my body? What would it do to my goals? My progress? My health? Even if I could rationalize with the "everything in moderation" mantra the fact of the matter is that I'm in weight loss mode right now and there is no place in my life for a bag of peanut butter eggs and eating a piece every day. In my body, it only leads to overeating and more sugar cravings. I have dark chocolate in the freezer if I really wanted chocolate, no this was something more. So if this isn't moderation with one a day until they're gone and not a chocolate craving does this mean I'm giving myself permission to binge and eat the entire bag? Was I giving myself permission to BINGE? Oh HELL NO! I've shared my struggles with the binge monster and I don't want to give into that again. I've been down Binge Highway before and I don't like where it leads. I don't like who I become. I am NOT going to let myself be that person over and over again. I'm not going to go through that cycle of binge eating followed by self loathing.

As I sat with those words it became clear to me that I'd given into that candy monster voice one too many times lately. Its far too easy for me to buy a bag of candy and eat the entire thing in one day. Its far too easy for me to rationalize it by saying I've had a bad day or I "deserve it", tomorrow is a new day, I can restart on Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday.... but those types of self destructive reasoning is why I once weighed 430 pounds. I still have a very long way to go to reach my goal but I'm not going to get there by giving into to a bag of candy, I'm not going to open the door to binge eating, believe me it takes every ounce of my being some days to keep the binge monster in its cage.

Hello? Is anyone listening? I really need some candy...

Permission to binge?
DENIED!

How does your garden grow?

2011-03-06T01:39:00.001Z

There have been lots of changes around Casa Scale Junkie over the past week! Spring cleaning has been at the top of our list. The weather has been just about perfection, not too hot, not too cold and we've managed to make the most of it. The front yard is almost looking good enough that I wouldn't make you pick me up on the corner if you were swinging by to pick me up for coffee. The back yard still has a ways to go but its looking SO much better.

Growing up in rural western Pennsylvania we always had a big garden. We'd have one field for potatoes (hey my parents had six kids we needed a field of potatoes) and another big patch of tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, lettuces, zucchini and other various vegetables and of course strawberries, but I've told you all of this before.

Here in Florida we have a tiny back yard and its full of bugs, weird little bugs and I have no idea how to grow a garden in Florida so I've decided to do a container garden on my patio that gets the morning sun. Three kinds of tomatoes, peppers, basil, oregano and thyme to start. I've tried growing from seeds before and haven't had much luck so instead we went to the nursery and bought fungus resistant plants that were already started.

Before you think that I already know how to garden because I grew up with a Dad who loved to plant a big garden, I don't. I was quite young when he planted, when I was older he couldn't do much because of an accident so I missed out on learning gardening skills so if anyone has any advice about gardening I'm happy to listen and especially about things that are easy to grow in Florida. Apart from weeds, we're quite good at growing weed and pulling weeds.

I'd also like to know about herbs. I bought a basil plant and I read that you're suppose to pinch off the leaves that you want to use and what I wanted to know was would new leaves grow in where I pinched?

Since the basil plant was quite full I pinched off a few leaves and made one of my favorite salads. You can modify it if you wish, swap the chicken for shrimp or go meatless, change up the cheese: gorgonzola and bleu both work great in this salad too. I've also used banana peppers in place of the pepperoncini peppers. You may recognize the recipe from my recipe pages and if you opt for chicken in the salad you might want to use my favorite chicken marinade before you grill/bake the chicken.

Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad

I started making this back when I was single and I really wasn't much of a cook. I'm proud to say I've really become a very good cook over the past few years but this is still a favorite.

Friends, coworkers and employees alike would tease me that I could only boil water and honestly when I was in my 20's it was true. But this was the one dish everyone trusted and dare I say...demanded that I make when there was a gathering.

Its really simple and a crowd pleaser. I loved that I never had to take home leftovers!

Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad

1 box of penne pasta (1lb box) (I use whole wheat now)
2 heads hearts of romaine lettuce
8 oz. crumbled feta cheese
8 - 10 oz cooked chicken breast cut into bite size cubes
1 English Cucumber, cut in half and sliced into bite size (seedless)
2 small packages of grape tomatoes
10-20 leaves of fresh basil cut into thin ribbons (easiest with scissors)
1 clove of garlic finely chopped
1 small bottle of Kens brand Caesar Dressing (only need about 1/2 a bottle)
1 can of pitted black olives or 1 jar kalamata olives pitted optional
6 or 7 peperoncini peppers (greek peppers) to garnish top

cook pasta according to box directions and cool by running cold water.Drain thoroughly. While pasta boils, chop the veggies and place in large bowl. When pasta is cool, toss with veggies, chicken and cheese. Don't mix in the dressing until about 20 minutes prior to serving.

Note: This is also good with small cooked tailless shrimp (cocktail or salad shrimp) in place of chicken. Also, I usually use a 4 oz package of tomato basil favored feta and a 4 oz package of plain feta but whatever you like will work

So its going to be one of those days?

2011-03-04T17:21:00.000Z

We got up early because we had errands to run, the last stop we made was the grocery store. After two big cups of coffee and two hours of shopping mother nature was kicking in, I needed to find the bathroom and find it fast!

I should preface this by saying I don't like to use public restrooms whenever possible because well, ok I'll say it, I'm a bit germaphobic. But when you've gotta go, you've gotta go.

I told Ken to guard the cart ...yes I've had someone walk off with my cart before just when I almost had everything on my list and I had to go around the store and get everything again: it was Christmas Eve my Mom was visiting and it was 30 degrees freezing cold (this is Florida after all), the heater quit working in my car so we had to drive to the store with a blanket on our laps and then someone walked off with our cart when we stopped to look at candles and when we turned around it was gone and we had to go around the store and check off everything from our list again...and when we left it was snowing...in Florida...oh but wait, wrong grocery store story so I should just carry on telling the original story and say I headed into the bathroom now...

I noticed it was spotlessly clean as I locked the door behind me and searched in vain for a place to hang my handbag. I never put my handbag on the floor because years ago when I worked with several women from South America and Central America they all had this superstition that it was bad luck to put your handbag on the ground or floor. They said that if you did, you'd never be able to keep money in it. Purse on the floor is money out the door. Hey, my Italian grandmother had all kinds of superstitions that I followed, so I wasn't taking any chances when it came to money and my handbag hasn't hit the floor since.

I grabbed two paper towels and placed them on the corner of the sink and put my handbag down on the paper towels (I said it looked spotlessly clean but hey we've all seen those news investigations where they swab the surface and a virus or germ that wants to attack our bodies and kill us dead...as opposed to just killing us, you can blame my doctor for teaching me the kill you dead saying) Now you know if I won't put my handbag down on the sink without paper towels I'm most certainly not going to SIT on the toilet seat, they didn't have the liners so I just did the good old hover maneuver. As I began to do my hover I noticed I could hear running water and wondered where it was coming from because it was just one room here, me, a toilet and a sink. THE SINK!

I glanced over at the sink and my double handled handbag that I had precariously perched on the edge of the sink had well...how do I say this except to say it was all gravities fault. One of the handles had drooped down into the sink and pulled the handbag down in with it and when it did it activated the auto sensor and my lovely leather handbag was quickly filling with water. No I am NOT joking! When I need to wash my hands I can never EVER get those darn things to turn on yet my HANDBAG slides in there and it says oooooohhhhh lets turn on now.

It was bad enough that everything was soaked, I dried it out the best I could, luckily I had tucked my phone into my pocket so it didn't suffer through the great handbag drowning of 2011. Just about then my phone started to ring.

Him: WHERE ARE YOU?!!? I've searched the store and I can't find you.
Me: I'm still in the ladies room
Him: Still? Oh wow, I feel sorry for the person who has to go in there next...
Me: Oh DON'T EVEN GO THERE! I'll be out in a minute

As I type the contents of my handbag as well as my handbag are spread across the patio dining table to dry. When I'm done typing this post I'm going to send a letter to the manager of the grocery store telling them just how irresponsible it is to not have handbag hooks in the ladies room and maybe I'll start a national movement, no a WORLDWIDE movement requiring that there always be a place to hang your handbag when you have to use the public bathroom. Oh yes, its going to be one of THOSE days!

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 9, 2011

2011-03-01T01:17:00.000Z

Hi everyone! Welcome to March, what is the saying? In like a lamb out like a lion? I know they're referring to weather but I'm talking about me! Brand new month, brand new attitude! I've written a new goal list for March and I'm ready to make it happen! I'm starting off slow and each week making changes to increase my stamina and over all health. So what about you? Are you starting the month as a lion or lamb?

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 8, 2011

2011-02-22T01:28:00.001Z

Hi everyone! I hope you're all having a great last week of February...hard to believe we're almost two full months into 2011.

If you've been struggling this would be a good week to outline a game plan for March. I'm trying to increase my exercise so I've made an exercise schedule for March that allows me to gradually increase my times over the course of the month. What are your plans for March?

Six Pounds

2011-02-16T23:55:00.000Z

I look at my weight loss journey, the ups and downs and everything in between and over all I look at the amount of weight I have to lose and well sometimes it can be quite overwhelming. By the same token I've heard people who have a lot of weight to lose make comments that other bloggers who don't have as much to lose can't possibly relate to them. I do understand this, I was this person too before I started to blog and read blogs and would often find myself wondering how can a person who only has to lose 10 or 20 pounds ever relate to me? I learned over time that be it a lot of weight or a little bit of weight we all go through the same struggles to make the scale move and make the body tone and reshape. While someone with a small amount to lose can't relate to all of my struggles they can relate.

On Friday afternoon I went to the mall with my husband. It had already been a long day, I had met Ash and Nat for coffee and after Nat left, Ash and I walked through the mall (a different mall than I went to with my husband later that afternoon) I was feeling a bit tired and probably a bit dehydrated too but in the first store we went in I found a 6lb medicine ball on sale and it was the last one they had, we only had one other store to go to so I went ahead and bought it.

Of course I know better than to ever believe my husband when he says we're just going to one store and I suppose I could have waited to buy the medicine ball on the way out, its not like there is some big giant rush to buy medicine balls here in middle of nowhere Florida...but I didn't. I carried the ball through the mall and we walked and walked and walked and I noticed that the six pounds started to get heavy. I noticed that I was carrying this six pounds and after several loops around the mall and through the shops we were headed to the car and my husband realized I was still carrying that package and he offered to carry it when we were about 20 feet from the car. I gladly handed it over and immediately noticed the difference.

It wasn't that it was too heavy for me but I felt the difference in my body immediately, sure it was just six pounds, only six pounds and I've lost more than six pounds so far this year alone so why was six pounds making such a difference? Well I'm not sure why but I'm glad it did. It made me realize that while I have a lot of weight to lose, every pound that I lose counts, every pound matters and in the end they all add up to a lot of 6 pounds and each one of them that I lose from my body will make my steps that much quicker and my body that much healthier.

Have you found yourself upset at slow progress and referred to your weight as an "only?" Pick up something that weighs what you've lost, carry it around with you nonstop all day and feel that little bit of relief when you get to put it down. Suddenly six pounds isn't just six pounds anymore now is it?

The next time you find yourself saying "I've only lost ___" remind yourself of this post and try the pound experiment. I know we can all be hard on ourselves and downplay the weight we've lost because we aren't to goal yet but you can stop that negativity and change your thought pattern right now.

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 7, 2011

2011-02-15T12:00:00.000Z

I hope you all had a very happy Valentines Day! We decided to not fight the crowds this year and stay home and have a nice romantic dinner and watch a movie. I dipped strawberries in dark chocolate for us to enjoy during the movie so over all a very healthy and happy day for me, I hope it was for you too.

Half way through February, how is your month going so far?

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 6, 2011

2011-02-08T00:32:00.000Z

Hi everyone! I hope you're all having a good week. I noticed on Facebook and Twitter some of you were having rough weeks like I was, is everyone back on track? I am but if you aren't, maybe making a list for yourself like I did in my last post might help you too.

Just to let you know that check in this week will look a little bit different. We've gone back to Mister Linky so for some of you its new, for some of you its back to the way it was from the beginning of the HYC! Its the same premise, enter your blog name and URL I really think this suits our needs a bit better. Any problems, let me know.

There is still time to enter to win a copy of Cinch! by Cynthia Sass, deadline is Tuesday February 8th at midnight so head on over HERE if you want to enter.

WELCOME!

Finding My Skinny
http://findingmyskinny.blogspot.com/

Tubby Tabby & Tubby Hubby
http://tubbytabbytales.blogspot.com/

Breaking promises, telling lies

2011-02-03T17:22:00.000Z

So here it is February 3rd, 2011. I told myself this would be my year, I told everyone else this would be my year. I have the tools, I have the support, I started off strong but what did I do? Crash and burn...AGAIN.

The disappointment I feel with myself, the disgust is nothing new, I've broken so many promises to myself, told myself so many lies. I wouldn't lie to a friend like that, I wouldn't break promised I made to a friend like that yet I do it to myself all of the time. I've told myself that if I had the right foods it would be easier, if I had a personal trainer it would be easier, if I had this or that it would be easier. But I have access to healthy foods I don't have a personal trainer but I have equipment, DVD's, Kinect and I have a good pair of walking shoes and I live in a place where the weather is quite pleasant this time of the year. So maybe I just don't want it badly enough. I'm weak. I'm broken. I feel like I have one foot in the grave so why bother? I feel like I've ruined my body and wasted my life away over the need to eat what I want when I want consequences be damned.

And then the tears came. I'm not ready to give up, I'm not ready to die. Just about then my husband came in the room, Sadie and Max wandered over wondering why their human was upset, they wagged their tails and licked away my tears trying to console me and make me happy. I confessed how I felt but I didn't feel any better.

My husband handed me a notebook and a pen and told me to write what he said. It started with From today, February 3, 2001 I am going to balance eating healthy, exercise and work. Next we listed everything I need and want to accomplish in a day and from there I wrote out a schedule that will be the basic guideline for my day. I was feeling so overwhelmed by everything I wanted to accomplish that I felt like I was spinning my wheels at 100mph but not moving. It's EXHAUSTING!

I had already started my day with a healthy breakfast so I was off to a good start. He made me sign the page and hung it from the top of my computer work station. We plan to adjust it as necessary but just putting it down on paper and getting him involved in it made it real. I am by no means out of the woods yet but I'm back on my feet and ready to fight for my life.

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 5, 2011

2011-02-01T00:45:00.000Z

Hi everyone! Are you ready for a fresh start? We're starting a brand new month and part of my New Years Un-Resolution was revisit my goals at the start of each month and tweak as necessary. February 1st and I am tweaking away! What about you?

GIVEAWAY!
I read the book Cinch! by Cynthia Sass and wrote up a little review and I'm also giving away three copies of the book so stop by and enter for a chance to win.

WELCOME!

Up The Creek Without A Paddle
http://iamupthecreek.blogspot.com/

Living in the Land of Oz
http://karensoz.blogspot.com/

No More Fatty Fat Girl
http://nomorefattyfatgirl.blogspot.com/

Review and Giveaway of Cinch!

2011-01-31T15:21:00.000Z

Cinch! is a new diet book by author Cynthia Sass, M.P.H. R.D and its to designed to conquer cravings, drop pounds and lose inches. The front of the book reads 'lose up to 8 LBS in the first five days!' and 'stop counting and start living' but when I heard about the MANDATORY daily serving of dark chocolate you know I was intrigued and had to learn more! Continue Reading

Finding my passion

2011-01-27T20:30:00.001Z

I've always had a creative side. I remember using found objects to create rings, necklaces and bracelets from a very young age. In fact the very first speech I ever gave was a demonstrative speech in the third grade and I showed the class how to make rings using cafe curtain hooks, rocks from the playground and clear nail polish. For a shy chubby girl to suddenly have all of the girls listening to what I was saying and with Mothers Day approaching even a few of the boys this was my grade school rock star moment. Word spread like wildfire and I found myself taking to the 4th and 5th graders, the older kids, the cool kids, they all wanted to talk about rings and more importantly what was I going to come up with next?

As I got older my love for jewelery morphed into an almost obsession with gold and things that sparkled. I spent my allowance on jewelery but not just any jewelery it had to be 14 karat gold, silver simply wouldn't do. Needless to say my allowance didn't go far but I treasured the few pieces I was given as gifts or able to afford with my own money. My love of all things creative carried over into other aspects. I excelled in art classes and my teachers encouraged me to go to art school but my love of art had been crushed at home because as I was told over and over again, art is a hobby, art isn't a real job.

I went off to college and drifted aimlessly from major to major, the counselors would give me tests and I'd always score very high in the creative fields and when asked what I wanted to do I'd say I wanted to design shoes or design jewelery and even the career counselors discouraged such hopes and dreams as being big city far fetched, you would have thought I said I wanted to be a rock star they made it seem THAT impossible. Eventually I dropped out of college and moved to Florida where I found work with a publishing company and low and behold they trained me in desktop publishing. I had finally found a career that allowed me to use my creative side. With the coming of everything computerized my company trained us or sent us to classes to learn what we needed to know. Despite being told I couldn't make a living as an artist I was and they paid for my education. Win win.

Times change, techniques change, companies go out of business and lay people off and here I am once again wanting to do something creative and I know that many of you are keeping up with my adventures in metalsmith/silversmith classes and I just wanted to let you know that I'm back for another six weeks and learn more skills. The little girl has come full circle from jewelery from found objects to learning to use a blow torch and chemicals. She is using her math skills, chemistry lessons and physics to make metal behave the way she wants. I can't explain this overwhelming sense of peace I feel.

So what does any of this have to do with dieting and weight loss? I think for a few years now I expressed myself through food. Going into the kitchen and whipping up a fabulous creation and then savoring every bite had become my only creative outlet and well, lets just say, I created FAR too much in that kitchen and ate it all.

It all comes down to finding a new focus and finding a new way to focus my creative energy away from food. Yes I still whip up delicious and creative food dishes but I'm not obsessed with it, the focus has shifted from food to nutrition where it belongs. FINALLY!

I've been sharing my breakthroughs with you for a few years now and while sometimes its difficult to put myself out there for the world to see, when I hear that a few others can relate it makes sharing feel so worthwhile. If I can let just one other person know they are not alone in their struggles I feel like I've made a difference. I've made this breakthrough and I hope you can too. If you struggle with food addiction please find another passion that moves you more than food. Don't let well meaning others tell you that you can't when you know in your heart you can.

Food for thought: Here is my fifth creation. I entered it into the student show today. I wove the center part from copper wire, the rest is sterling sheet apart from the rivets which are copper wire. Tasty isn't it?

Healthy You Challenge Check In Week 4, 2011

2011-01-25T00:02:00.000Z

Hi everyone! This is our LAST check in for the month of January. Is your year off to a good start? Have you made the most of January? Its never too late to turn your life around and make the most of each and every day. I realize that I haven't been working hard enough and I plan on pushing myself a bit harder in February. I have specific goals in mind for this year and I'm not going to reach them unless I really change things up around Casa di Scale Junkie.

I have another giveaway going on (open to US residents only) for a MultiGrain Cheerio gift pack. You can read all about it and enter to win on my MultiGrain Cheerio post.

I also wanted to say thank you once again to our friends at EatSmart for giving a Healthy You Challenge member a beautiful digital bathroom scale. They used random.org and picked Ohhhh. . . Flaxy Lady, congratulations Ohhh...Flaxy Lady!

WELCOME!

Freedom From Fat
http://www.freeingmyselffromfat.blogspot.com/

My Practical Life
http://mypracticallife.com/

We're Simply Atomic
http://simplyatomic.net/

Note: McLinky our sign in service was having some problems over the weekend with their server, the issues should be cleared up but if you experience lagging or inability to reach the sign in page, just check back later.

MultiGrain Cheerios review and prize pack giveaway

2011-01-22T23:27:00.000Z

I've always loved Cheerios, give me a bowl with almond milk and a dusting of cinnamon and I'm good to go for the whole morning. When I was given the opportunity to share information about MultiGrain Cheerios and The Biggest Loser and give away a Cheerios prize pack, I jumped at the chance. Some of you who follow me on Twitter may have noticed my tweets on Tuesday nights with The Biggest Loser and MultiGrain Cheerios, if you'd like your chance to win, click here

(open to US residents only, sorry)