-3

Drum roll please... if you have been keeping track that is 15lbs. total that I have lost. O K girls I am so excited to be able to say that, but my celebration is bitter sweet. I want everyone to be having success, and so far, well let's just say I'm speechless. I want to be able to give wonderful words of encouragement to inspire everyone, but I sort of feel like I'm on a bragging spree when I post, which is so not me. It's hard to lose weight, I am so painfully aware of that, but that is what we have all expressed the desire to do. I don't want to sound like I am chastising any one, because if you know me I am all about the sweet(personality, that is). This week I encourage all of you to look into your life and pick one thing that is going to help you this week be able to post some sort of negative loss. My goal is to keep a food journal. I have been looking at labels recently when I am about to eat, and trying to count calories in a very broad sense, trying to make sure my measurements are equal to a serving. I've decided to start writing it down so I can see exactly how many calories I am consuming. Some days I worry that I have gone overboard on limiting myself to too few calories, and I am curious to find out by keeping track. In the long run I know that limiting yourself, and consuming not enough to fuel your body can have it's bad side. Here's the thing, I think people in general, myself included start losing a few pounds and then they are like "Wow maybe if I eat a little less then I will lose even more, faster" If any one watches the Biggest Loser like I do then you will know that the players always get into trouble when they start feeling this way. I've heard that keeping a food journal greatly increases your odds of succeeding. This same trick is used in budgeting. When you have a visual of how much you eat then you can look back and adjust where needed. It's going to be a lifestyle change, and it's a hard one to make. Aubrey and I have had the discussion of whether or not it's possible to be that women who orders the healthy meal instead of the gooey cheesy dish. How much we currently love the way we eat. I was watching Valerie Bertanelli on The Doctors this week, and she said that her best suggestion is to ask your self "Is my body worth it, is my health worth it" whenever she is faced with a temptation. Really is that chocolate cake going to do me the good I need in the long run. They also looked at common snacks and what their calorie and nutritional value is. How many of us grab a handful of potato chips a few times during the day, or a big helping at lunch. For Valerie it was jalapeno poppers. They showed in comparison that you could eat almost an entire table worth of fresh fruits and veggies for the same calories as a plate full of chips. I don't have to tell you about the nutritional differences, I'm sure you all get the picture. So in answer to the discussion Aubrey and I had about whether or not it is possible to be that women and change our eating habits, I say yes it is, and ask myself" Is my body worth it, is my health worth it?" It will be hard, and we will allow ourselves cheats here and there, lets just make sure they are few and far between. Having said that I cheated yesterday at my Aunts funeral and ate some yummy potatoes and the most delicious piece of chocolate cake. Maybe they tasted extra good because I knew it was only for that day, and I wouldn't cheat again for awhile. And I still lost weight. I had originally thought about naming this blog "I can do it, and you can do it, lets lose the weight together". There you are, I have been doing it, please be inspired to do it too. Leave a comment on what your goal will be this week, a goal that you know should help you to take off at least one pound this week.
(Gwen steps off her high horse) Good luck in the coming week, I love all of you for helping me make it this far, you really do make it possible for me to want this as much as I do.
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