Bee in My Bonnet: Health and Wellness Edition

ARG! There is a mild bee in my bonnet this morning. I was reading Allyson's blog today and her most recent post Nutritional Redonkatude. Yes, that is a fabulous word and we are putting it on tee-shirts and selling them out of the back of a van with fleece throw covers and Valentine's Day roses.

Ok, so here is the picture she posted:



Go ahead and click on the image to see what this Pop-tart eats and thinks is healthy.

Now, pick yourself up off the floor and let's talk about all that is wrong with this.

As you read in my last post, I lost some pounds and inches in the month of June. I worked hard for every single ounce I lost, and for every single inch that is gone. I don't doubt that Pop-tart up there works hard, but honestly, how hard do you have to work to work off 10 almonds and 6 bottles of water? And here is where I will say as well, success is measured not just in the numbers on the scale but in how your clothes fit, how you feel, your blood pressure reading, the ability to move and do things as well.

I will say this, this kind of diet and example is WRONG! Why does People Mag profile this kind of stuff. (I realize my question answers itself with "Why do you read People Mag anyway?")...well I don't read People Mag, but I know lots of people do. I know lots of young women will read that story and want to go on that diet. I know that lots of not-so-young women will look at that and feel guilty that they are not skinny like that. We live in an eating disorder nation...why, oh why does it get perpetuated?

This is not real life, this is not what real people eat. Real people eat grains and fruits and veg and dairy. Real people sometimes have a popsicle in the evenings with their kids because it makes the kid happy, heck it makes me happy! Right now I am striving for moderation but I still want to enjoy my food and living. I wonder if Pop-tart enjoys her days eating amino-acid spray and celery fumes. I doubt it.

I don't know how to change this "normal" but I do know this -- us fattys gotta stick together and help people enjoy their curves, and kinks, and black under eyecircles, and cellulite, and very-close veins, and junk in the trunk. It's ok to have all of those things, it really is.

The bee has been excised from my bonnet, now to eat a piece of cheese...eat that Pop-tart!

June Weight Loss Update

For the month of June:

Weight lost: 5 pounds
Waist measurement: lost 1/2 inch
Hip measurement: lost 2 1/2 inches
Thigh measurement: lost 2 inches
Bust measurement: no change

It's been a good month on Weight Watchers and with my excercise -- despite not feeling well the last 3 days of this week, which necesitated not eating on plan but just eating white rice and potatoes to calm my stomach. I think trying to take things in incriments was a good idea as well. I just hope that my results keep on this way. My fattest fat pants also fit better, which movement toward my ultimante goal....the closets of clothes that I cannot wear! I just hope that I will fit into another church dress soon too. The two I can wear are boring me.



I've also discovered greek yogurt. Normally I like more Bulgarian style yogurt, which is runny, but I read an article about how the Chobani company came into being last week so I gave it a try. It was good, but I made it better. The non-fat yogurt is a bit gritty and very thick texture wise, but the 2% is just right. However, there are only a few flavors in the 2% variety, pomegranet not included. So, one morning I mixed a tablespoon of whole milk into the non-fat and got the 2% texture result -- brilliant! Studies show that when you are trying to lose weight, eating dairy helps. I know for me, eating a protien packed breakfast helps get me to lunch without a snack, thus saving me WW points. I need all the points I can get by the end of the day, when I am really hungry.

Now it's on to July!

Week 2 update

Last week was week 2 on WW.

It went well, and I learned a lot.

First, I'm down 3 pounds and I managed to do my phys therapy excercises 4 out of 6 days. Today I'm going to hop on the stationary bike and add that into my routine. The real question is, can I find my excercise clothes in my dresser, and will they even part way fit over my very large bottom?

Second, I tried to go mostly vegetarian. Apparently I can't do that any more. My old body needs protein, and I need to eat protien at breakfast and dinner. If I don't I just get cranky and it's not pretty.

All of this came with a wedding anniversary celebration lunch out to eat and Father's Day with the accompaning sweets and treats -- root beer floats are beyond delicious!

So here we go onto week 3.

Chicken fat feeling good and working hard...

Back on the Wagon

Since, I thought you'd like to know, I'll tell you how being back on the Weight Loss Wagon is going.

Last week was hard. Not as much of a DOOZY as the first, first week I did on Weight Watchers (WW from here on out) back in 2007. My first time around on WW, I really had a steep learning curve about my relationship with food. I remember many days in those first weeks sitting on my hands biting my lips and crying so that I would not mindlessly snack. This time around I know where my demons lie and I'm trying to anticipate them.

Here is where I will share a secret about me. I am afraid of being hungry. I don't know why, or how this fear developed, but I am. I am afraid of being hungry and I think that's why I've always struggled with food. I use it to comfort me, I use it to help me thru emotional hard times and I use it because I like it. Eating makes me happy, so to say to myself, "I have to cut back on something that makes me happy" was hard. It still is hard.

I didn't feel like I had "control" or at least felt like I knew what I was doing again until Wednesday. Thursday I finally felt calm about the program and my food choices. I also knew from my first post-baby WW experience in 2009, I cannot take on too much at once.

After I had James I tried to start back at the level at which I ended in 2008. I was walking 2+, brisk, miles a day, keeping track of my points with out even having to write them down and I knew how to calculate the point value for most foods without my calculator. I was good. Like I said, I tried to start at the level and I failed miserably. Then my feet went on the fritz and I felt so frustrated.

And I ate.

So this time around, I decided that I was going to do things one week at a time. Week one, focus on food and food choices. Week two, focus on food choices and phys therapy exercises and next week, Week three, cardio on the stationary bike for 15 mins and working up to 30 mins in 5 min increments every week. I would love to keep walking, and perhaps on the weekends I will, but for now that's a no-go. Pushing 50+ lbs of kids and 30+ of stroller (speaking of, I'd have to get a double jogger which I don't have room for) made me and my feet want to cry.

Regarding my food. I thought I'd have to give up my favorite Nutella toast. No, no, no! I was sad about that. Despite my efforts to go sugar free in the past, I just love that little bit of sweet chocolaty goodness in the AM. Well, I finally calculated the points for a serving of Nutella -- and it's a lot -- 2 Tablespoons, which is a lot, if you don't believe me measure it out and you'll see. But I realized, I never have eaten a full serving of Nutella. Just a teaspoon or so is all I need, and that's way less in the points department. Enough so that on wheat toast it is a do-able breakfast item. Here is where I will say, at least for me, that denial of any food is the first step you make on the road to failure when you're trying to be healthy. Moderation is the key. Anything in moderation is ok. I also figured out that I needed to add spinach and sun dried tomatoes back into the egg I eat in the morning. During my pregnancy with Jeffrey I couldn't eat either of those -- grossed. me. out. With a handful of mushrooms my egg and cheese becomes a filling and healthy breakfast.

Then there is my friend Rochelle. She sells Melaluca. Say what you want about it, but I knew when she mentioned the Attain meal replacement shakes I had found a good product. And they are. Yesterday I tried the vanilla with some frozen pineapple blended in. It was FAN-TASTIC! Now, I still like my Slim-fast because it has 2 more grams of fiber in it, but Attain tastes way better. So, I can do both and be happy.

Like I said earlier, food makes me happy. Sweet snacks especially. I also found a solution to that. I just need a little sweet to make me happy. The new Super-fabulous-non-stop Super Walmart in Santa Fe sells WW cakes. They're like tiny little Zingers (remember Zingers?). I also have re-discovered Skinny Cow Dreamy Clusters. The dark chocolate ones are excellent. Just enough chocolate and carmel and crunhies to make the candy monster in you quiet.

In the end, I broke even on the pounds after losing then gaining and then losing. I can only hope for this week. But I'm taking one day at a time and not sniveling about my bad choices, just realizing they've been made, accepting that and moving on.

And that's how my first week on WW went.

The Light Bulb That Lifted My Burden

I had this major "light bulb" moment a few weeks back when I first emerged from my post-pregnancy seclusion.

Everyone kept telling me how "great" I looked.

I thanked them graciously but inside I just wasn't happy about those comments.

Didn't these people know that I did not look better? That I was one, perhaps two sizes bigger than I was before I started this whole pregnancy thing? (And if we really want to get technical, 4 sizes bigger than when I had SBJ).

That's when it occurred to me. No one remembers what I looked like nine months ago. No one but me. They just remember me in those tragic days when I was truly sorrowing in my conception, just trying to make it 45 mins without having to waddle to the bathroom.

A major burden lifted off my ego when I figured that out.

However, that does not mean I am happy in my complacency. No I am not. Because I do not want to buy one more article of fat-lady clothing. I am really tired of my very large bottom being very large, and because I am tired of having feet and knees that hurt all the time and a blood pressure that will probably kill me eventually.

So, if you see me wearing the same dress at church every week, and one of four shirts all the time, be kind. I'm working on it.

This is where I make a big announcement.

I have a plan.

And I've been thinking about my plan for a few weeks, trying to figure out what is the best route to becoming less of myself.

Then another light bulb went off above my head. This light bulb involved motivation. Like I said, I am not buying one more article of fat lady clothing. I want to wear the almost 2 closets full of not-so-fat lady clothing I have. I also want to be able to wear my wedding dress again.

And that was it. That wedding dress.



In a few weeks Joseph and I will celebrate our 9th wedding anniversary. By our 10th wedding anniversary I want to fit back into that wedding dress. That gives me 365 + 10 days (because I'm starting my plan on June 4th) to loose 50 pounds and fit back into my wedding dress. The way I figured it, that's 4 pounds a month for 12 months, or there abouts. If I lose more then great too.

I'm going to be doing Weight Watchers again, in combination with some meal replacement shakes my friend Rochelle sells thru Melaluca. I'll be riding my stationary bike and doing my phys therapy and other strength training exercises. I wish I could walk again, like I used to, but my old lady feet and the fact that I'd be pushing almost 70 + pounds of kids and stroller made me want to cry. Really it made my feet cry more than anything, but who wants to hear about my feet? Not me, and totally not you.

My wish for myself is that I can do all this while wrangling The Goodnight Brothers and my other domestic duties with out losing my cool, my sanity, my car keys and my will power to resist chocolate, cheese, nutella toast and my secret cookie stash. Bye-bye beloved friends I'm going away for awhile.

If anyone knows Richard Simmons, please have him call me, I need him to tell me I can do this.

The Very Sad Tale of My Feet

You may or may not have noticed a facebook status update or five about shin splints and/or my aching feet and the need for new shoes. You might be wondering what the heck is going on with me, as you've probably assumed I'm a large couch potato, why in the name of Richard Simmons would I ever need to worry about it? Well, I was a couch potato. Emphasis on WAS. You may or may not know in 2007 I made a few changes and became hooked on Weight Watchers (and you were hoping I was going to say phonics weren't you??).



Anyway, along with my new WW inspired eating, I began to exercise. Since I live in the middle of nowhere and there are no cheap gyms and/or exercising establishments I decided to just take to the streets walking. People would comment all the time that they would see me out walking, here and there, too and fro, like a little pioneer child singing (ABBA) as I walked and walked and walked, aaaaaaand walked.

As that year wore on I began having some serious problems with my feet. Namely plantar fascitis. Which is an irritation of the fascia, or the ligament that runs along the bottom of your foot. It's a common injury in walkers and runners. The solution was to get Uncle Cameron--the best podiatrist in the world--to make me some orthodics (because I have insanely high arches in my feet -- we're talking Golden Gate Bridge here people!) and take it easy. So I did and in a few weeks I felt better and was more mindful of my body's pain signals. Orthodics in the shoes, shoes on the feet at all times and in all places and in all things. Said good bye to sandals, flip-flops and cheepy shoes of all sorts as well. (You should too!!)



Obviously in 2008 I didn't have this problem as I was great with child and moving at the pace of a brontosaurus; and in 2009 I was not really back up to my previous intensity of walking. However, this year has been different. I've been trying to lose the last 15 baby pounds. Lately it seems like I'm losing and re losing the same 3 pounds (curse all 3 of you dangit!). I've also really been trying to make the most of each summer day we have as well. James loves to be outside and he really enjoys a ride in the stroller. Winter is long and coming soon, which means the DVDs will have to come out, and I just about lose what little mind I have left doing exercise DVDs.

Now we come to the beginning of August. My shoes died. It happens frequently with me. The other thing is, I developed a WICKED case of shin splints. I kid you not, they hurt like there was no tomorrow, like the fiery rubber bands of hades, like, like....ok you get it....I was in pain. There were nights when I would just sit and cry because of the pain. So I began in earnest to find a new set of shoes, and just laid off the exercise totally. Thankfully one day, the pain stopped though, like someone flipped a switch. I was baffled, but not complaining at all!! However, I've been feeling quite lonely without my daily walks and like I have, in fact, lost the aforementioned teeny-tiny-bit-o-brain, or as Poirot would say, "Zee little grey cells".

The problem is this, and I know you'll sympathize with me, you all know about where I live. The dab-smack middle of nowhere. It presents some problems as you can imagine. No stores at which to try and buy shoes. Sure there are stores in the Capitol City, but that's a whole mess a crazy I'm not willing to engage in alone with toddler in tow, so I order on line. I love the internet, specifically I love Zappos.com. As you can imagine the problem is I have to buy before I can try, and I thought I'd try a new brand and a new shoe style. It was a mistake of epic proportions. First the shoe didn't fit, so I sent it back and ordered the next size up. It came and at first I was pleasantly happy. Arches were supported, heels were cushioned...all was right with the world. Until last Monday that is.

I'd felt no pain for a week so I thought I'd try a really easy walk over at the park, on the track. No hills, no terrain, nothing. Monday I got up, put my new shoes on and the pain started in my Achilles tendon. As the morning progressed the pain grew worser and worser to the very worstest. My right Achilles felt swollen and bruised. WHAT THE HECK?? I serioulsy felt like I'd just gone down the big slide in Chutes and Ladders...not a fun feeling, if you remember that game. What else could go wrong with my bod, I asked myself? I just kept taking the ibuprofen and icing my foot every few hours without much relief. That afternoon James had a doctor's appointment. While we were there we walked past the office of Super S, our local podiatrist. The still small voice, which I usually have a hard time hearing, sent me a message. "Stop in and make yourself an appointment today."

So I did. And as it turned out they had one appointment left for Friday morning. Sweet!

This is what Super S deducted from our convo. I was overdoing my exercise and was just outta whack. Lay off, take pain meds, ice the foot and be nice to yourself. As for the Achilles tendon. "Have you been wearing new shoes lately?" Why yes I have Super S! He figured it out. Then I remembered a blurb in one of the customer reviews of this particular shoe, "Hugs the back of the Achilles tendon and pulls my sock down." Apparently the shoe was doing more than pulling my sock down. It was pinching my Achilles, rubbing it raw and causing it to swell, and making it hurt like H-E-*-* (rhymes with not so swell).



Super S taped my feet up...really up. To the point that I was able to walk with out pain. Oh, I love to have my feet properly taped. He also gave me some heel lifts for the shoes in question, but I've decided to not wear them at all. The very thought makes me cry and want to roll up into the fetal position and rock in a corner.

I'm still debating to brave a trip to the shoe store with small child in tow, or to just order the shoe I know works (while it's still being made...curse you Reebok and your silly affinity for 'toning' shoes). I just hope that in yet another week, my Achilles will have calmed down and I can resume my walks. Because I tell you that last 15 pounds of fat, ain't leaving on it's own.

So if you're interested, I'll sell you a pair of shoes, cheap!

Bathing Beauty

Let's talk about summer. I love summer. Even when I am trying to keep my little house cool and figure out how to feed my family by not cooking or using the oven. I love summer.

However as you might have guessed, every big girl's nightmare is the summer as well. Seriously, who of you wants to see my L-U-C-I-O-U-S tan, bowling ball knees and fat Wilson legs? None of you that's who. None of you. And because I love you all so much I'm sparing you the inhumanity of traipsing around in a small scrap of spandex. When I was a teenager I seriously wished that swim suits looked like this:



I am so not even kidding people. Not at all.

Well my dreams have sort of come true this summer. I found a suit that covers and is cute as well.



Not that I expect that we'll be going to the pool all that often because the Atomic City has pools, but those pools charge upwards of $350 for a 2 month membership. No day passes, no fifty-cent admissions for an afternoon of aqua-escapades. Nope, just lots of money. I'm just going to depend on the largess of my friends who have shelled out the money for invites to the pool.

And if those invites come in, at least I won't be scaring young children and old people with my tan, knees and legs....

The X and Y of my pants

So I have a problem. It's big. At least to me. Isn't that the way problems usually are? Really big to the person to whom they belong? But totally pointless to everyone else?? And this is so pointless in the grand scheme of the universe.

I am a pear shaped woman, and I am between sizes. Yep, absolutely between pant sizes. Too big for an X but not small enough for a Y. It's kind of frustrating really because I bought a new pair of capri pants over the weekend and they were a bit to big, but when I got them home, the were really too big and now look funny on me. I keep telling myself I was retaining water in the dressing room that day. Ya, that's the ticket!

So now when I wear these cute new pants, I kinda like this fine specimen of humanity. And no I am not joking


I know those of you that live in civilization are saying, "Just take them back and exchange them". Let's review CIVILIZATION is the key here. We live far away from said civilization. Not to mention I think I threw away the receipt. I honestly do not have the juice to drive down to Santa Fe and exchange them, even if I did have the receipt.

Notice there is no formula for thunder thighs on this chart! Rude, I know


And here is another thing, having a baby has totally changed the geometry of my lower body. (I know shocker!!) And if you remember me in high school, you'll remember that I was pretty much a geometry drop out. I think I had to take it at least two times to get it. Then again, I had to take all of my math classes at least two times. Somehow a "D" was a passing grade for the school's purpose, but not for my Dad. Picky! The point it, some places are bigger and weirder shaped that they were before, and I'm not sure what to do about it short of getting liposuction.



Now, here is a confession to make. I told my BFFs Allyson that I'd do a sugar fast with her for the month of June. I know, go ahead and laugh right now!

Ok, are you over it? Moving on.

I have failed miserably, Allyson. First of all, I forgot it was June and as I popped the 5th coconut covered marshmellow into my mouth on June 1st, I remembered that I had made this deal. Then there is the fact that we're doing a major home renovation starting tomorrow, and I've been a bit stressed to say the least. Not that I'm running out and parking my fat lard at the Sonic -- apparently I don't even have enough juice to go a mile down the road either, but the frozen lemonade cups in my freezer are my friends right now. I have also had some secret meetings with an Almond Joy or two. And if it wasn't enough I've resurrected my love affair with cheese. But how could I not when I found BULGARIAN cheese at the Sunflower Market last week? Seriously, cow's milk sirene, which is like a very mild feta.

I realize that cheese in not in the sugar group, but it is one of the things that just gets me every time.

However in my defense, I've totally gone off meat and am doing my summer vegetarian routine. The Bulgarian cheese helps that. You enjoy q-cumbers and tomatoes so much more with a sprinkle of sirene cheese.

So back to my trapezoid hips and buttocks. I know if I did a bit more -- like really go off sugar, and cheese and bread, I'd move closer to size Y and farther from size X.

Right now I'm using this as my style guide


So if you see me with hip-hop, saggy, pants, it's not my fault. I'm sure eventually I'll work on it someday, when I get the whole geometry thing down.

Health is a Family Affair

I got an incredible response to my previous blog about Diet being a dirty word. So in that same vein, I'm going to dole out some of my lifestyle wisdom...Call me Dr Joyce Brinton if you must. I prefer the Mormon Erma Bombeck, because let's face it. Erma was REAL!

First, lets talk about what many of my friends have discussed in relation to lifestyle changes and getting healthier. Their husbands do not support them. Men, REPENT OF YOUR FOLLY! If your wife needs to be less of herself, or wants to start eating better, then guess what, you should want that too.

Once a friend asked me how Joseph dealt with my being on Weight Watchers. I told her that he did it with me. Her eyes fell out. She then told me her husband wouldn't eat anything made from a WW cookbook, nor would he support her. He still insisted the house be filled with chips and cakes and other treat items. If you think I wanted to go and drag him out of Elder's Quorum right then and there and give him the what for, you'd be right.

If one person needs to make a lifestyle change I am going to go out on a limb here and say that the whole family needs to make that lifestyle change. Children will pick up and adopt their parents eating habits. It's also hard enough to have to cook and keep up with the kiddos all day long, but to have to cook two seperate meals? No-way! None a that happnin' here! I'm not saying that pancakes are off limits and you can't have an occasional ice cream. But what I'm saying is that it is unfair to have two sets of gastronome going on under one roof.

And let's face it, you really do start to fall apart after 30. If you let yourself fall apart after 30 it's will take more than all the kings horses and men to put you back together again.

Eating healthy can be a family affair and a fun one at that. Challenge your kids to eat the rainbow. Teach them how to read a food label (if they are old enough to read), have them choose their favorite fruit and veg at the store and then have them help you prepare it -- studies show that kids who cook with their parents are more likely to have a healthy diet and like healthy food than those who do not.

Second, and the other thing is that I have a firm belief that being healthy is a righteous desire. I know that Heavenly Father helps us with our righteous desires. I have to pray daily and even many times a day to make it thru the day on plan and on points. Toady has been hard already, and we shouldn't even mention yesterday's "cream cheese frosting" incident. Make your lifestyle change a matter of prayer. I promise it will be better that way.

Tomorrow we will diverge from health related topics. I promised my brother James' UBER-cool friend Janina, who has kindly consented to me my friend as well a story of how I killed James' Beta fish. It's a tragic tale really....be sure and tune in!

Diet is a Dirty Word

Anna challenged me to a diet race. I said no.

"But Joyce" you say, "Aren't you on a diet with the Weight Watchers and all that?"

No, no I am not on a diet. I am on a lifestyle quest and WW helps me on my way.

So here is what started my whole relationship with WW three years ago. It was the fall of 2006, I was finally starting to come out of the haze of pregnancy loss, teaching a year at Satan's High School and I was told by the doctor that I had too high of blood pressure for one so young as myself. I finally felt that I needed to do something as well, because let's face it cottage cheese belongs on a plate, not on your thighs and as much as we'd like the think the Ba-donk-a-donk bottom is hott, it's not.

I knew Atkins was bad. I knew that I couldn't do something like Nutrisystem -- too expensive and didn't really teach you how to live better. I knew that things like Jenny Craig or LA Weightloss were also out because the nearest locations were in the Capitol City some 45 mins away. I also knew I could not join the YMCA or the one "gym" in town. Both of those places wanted $45 to $65 a month, and although we are doing fine in the wages and salary department and despite what my hellish, minions of students though, we were not made of money.

So I landed at WW. My friend Christianne did WW in high school and loved it, but more than that, she lost weight and it stayed lost. I knew this was the right program for me.

So I got online and found out that they did in fact have a WW group here in town, but I knew I could do the program on my own if I had the materials. So because we live so far out on the fringe I could get what was called an "AT HOME KIT" it had all the stuff you'd buy at the meetings with out the cost of meetings. I bought it, the kit came in the mail and I read thru everything and prepared myself for 2007. I started on January 5th 2007, the day Joseph went back to work from Christmas break.

That first day was hard!! HARD people. Oh so hard; I'm sure it was how a drug addict felt going cold turkey clean. However, I was determined to stick to the plan and only eat enough food as my points would allow. Did I mention it was hard? I was in tears many, many days and nights about it. There were days I totally blew it and made bad choices. But I'd decided in the beginning that there would be no snivelling, no complaining. I was making a choice to CHANGE MY LIFE, to CHANGE the way I was, to CHANGE into a healthy person. I was CHOOSING to take better care of myself and the gift of life I'd been given by a loving Father in Heaven. I was CHOOSING to keep and live the Word of Wisdom better because I believed in the blessings it promises. When I had a bad day, it was time to reevaluate, CHOOSE to do better the next day. Because in the words of Anne Shirley, "Tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it." That became my mantra, every single day.

Those first weeks were hard -- some of the hardest in my life, and I really learned something about myself and what I was able to put myself thru. I ate because I was board. I ate because I was sad. I ate for no reason at all. I had a very co-dependent relationship with cheese and it had to stop. I had no idea what a real portion size was and I was eating way too much. I am a sugar addict and for the first time in my life I was willing to admit that. I drew on the hard times in my life -- tromping thru the Bulgarian snow, losing my babies, deaths and disappointments to get me thru. I knew if I could come thru those things standing, I could do this. You might wonder if I'm being hyperbolic about this. I don't think I am. You need food to survive, and yet food was my enemy. How do you balance that?

But before I knew it, I'd lost 10 pounds and was down a jean size. I lost another 15 and was down another jean size. Then I was down 30 pounds and swimming in my fat clothes. I was finally able to wear the clothes I liked again, and I was finally able to put my wedding ring back on. Do you know how much it stung to take it off because it wouldn't fit a year and a half before? It made me feel like I was unfaithful to my husband. Horrible, horrible feeling, but so absolutely great when it went back on. I recently put that ring back on for the first time since about the 7th month of pregnancy. I felt just as good to have that ring on my finger again this time as it did the first time and as it did the day we got married. My blood pressure was also at a very healthy level as well -- no medicine for me!!

But the real reward, the absolute best reward I had from my choice to life a healthy life was April 18th, 2008. That's the day I first heard Baby James' heart beating. I was 6 weeks pregnant at the time and still didn't know if this pregnancy would end in failure, but that heart beat and a very sweet whisper from the Holy Ghost assured me that this one, this time I would stay pregnant because I'd done my part to take care of myself.

So I'm not on a diet. Diet is a dirty word. I'm on a quest to live a healthy life, for the rest of my life. If you want to join me, stick around because I'm going to write down and share what it takes, because I love you all that much!

:)

Chicken Fat On the Move

So back in January, I went back on Weight Watchers, to be refereed to forever more as WW, because I don't like typing it out! Anyway...I was back on the wagon. And it seems like that little orange monster they have in their new commericals was my new BFF.

Fast forward to May...it always seems like I hit health and fitness milestones over night. I would like to announce that I am now down a pant and a shirt size, however, my very large bottom is still very large and looks to be for some time. Never the less, I am now in my smaller size of fat pants and normalish shirts. I won't say that I look GOOD! but, I do look better. Now if you can tell me how to get rid of the one grey hair I have that stands exactly 3 inches off the top of my head all all times, you can be my new BFF. Digressing...back to the point....

I tell you it's been hard this go around, mostly because I have no will power and my son seems to sap all the energy I might have thought about having, if I had a brain left to think about those kinds of things. It's also just easier to eat mayonnaise out of the jar instead of getting a healthy snack right? Ok, lest you think I have devolved to eating mayo out of a jar, I have not. In fact, I rarely if ever use mayo, it's part of the gloppy food group and includes things like fry sauce, which will never be had it this house, so help me!

My next goal is to get my wedding ring back on my fat finger. I've been wearing this cheepy one I bought myself at Tar-zhe a few years back when I was just regular fat, and not baby fat. It's been a good investment.

Here is to me, Chicken Fat on the move!