GET UP AND GET MOVING.

HE WHO LIMPS STILL WALKS.

Stanislaw Lew

Good Morning Sister W.W.F.F.,

Right now our gal Cara is on the sidelines, and I know she's feeling pretty down about that, but this is a time that she needs to be sitting this one out. Cara is one of "those people", that exercising is the start of her day. So Cara try and sit back and take it easy for awhile, and let your foot heal and Sweetie, count your blessings, and those blessings are not in the chocolate chips. :)

Here I sit while drinking my coffee trying to wake up, all the while listening to the thunder that is going on outside. Not long ago the sound of thunder would have been my ''excuse" for rolling over and going right back to sleep instead of getting up and getting ready for the gym. A few months ago I would not have even needed an excuse NOT to go to the gym. Now all that has changed, and if I have to miss a day of ''planned'' activity, I feel as if something is completely gone wrong with the universe.

I have heard people say ''when I don't exercise my whole day is off." To that I always thought, ''boy, do you need to get a life." Funny thing is, they always had the life, it was me who had no life.

Yesterday was a super busy day and it was one that was stressful for me, and it was compounded by my not sleeping well the night before. I did get up and go to the gym. Yesterday was my elliptical day, and I did my 55 minutes on the machine, and there were times I just wanted to stop, I just wanted to get off there and not workout. However, it seems everytime I feel this way the "Man upstairs" puts something in my line of sight where I get the message. Yesterday morning when I was thinking to myself, ''you know I'm just going to do maybe 30 minutes and that is it, I'm tired, I don't want to do anymore". As that thought went through my mind, I look up and here comes this man, that by the way I've seen at our gym several times, but the thing about this guy is, not only does he get around on crutches, BUT, he has only one leg.

This man is not at the gym everyday, but it has seemed to me that this man shows up everytime, I am ready to stop, and not give it my all. I have never spoken to this man, I have no idea why he is missing a leg, all I do know is this...when I have those feelings of wanting to quit, and I look up and see this man coming in on his crutches, I am so ashamed of myself that I was willing to ''wimp'' out, that I was willing NOT to give it my best. Here I have two fairly good legs and just because I am tired, I was willing to short change myself.

There never seems to be enough time in a given day to get all the things done that we feel need to be done, but don't cheat yourself out of the time to get some exercise in.

Today, look for ways to get in some exercise, maybe it will be no more than parking further away in the parking lot. If your talking on the phone, get the portable one and walk and talk, and I'm sure you all can come up with more ways to get in some more activity.

We may limp, but its still a walk going on there.

Wishing everyone a wonderful day,

Stay Strong,

Love,

Joan

Are you taking care of your body?

Health is....a blessing that money cannot buy.

Izaak Walton

Good Morning Sister W.W.F.F.,

Last Saturday our topic at Weight Watchers was how we could eat healthier without spending our life savings on food. How expensive having a bed in a hospital really is. So it got me to thinking about my body and all the things it has to do and all the brutality I did and can put it through.

While printing out some pictures last night of myself, there was a picture of me taken in March of 2005 before I joined Weight Watchers. At this time, my one knee had already been giving me tons of problems and on a trip to the Orthopedic doctor he looks at me and said, ''all that weight your carrying around is not helping those joints any." My first thoughts was to give him a quick comeback, due to ''did he really think he was the first doctor to ever tell me anything like this?" Get a number and stand in line. However, something he did say got my attention, and that was, ''for every pound you lose you are taking 4 pounds of stress off your knee joints." At that time I weighed around 280 pounds, so can you imagine how much stress has been taken off those poor joints of mine?

As most of you know I still had to have a hip replaced, plus one knee replacement done, but not until after I had already lost 60 pounds. Losing the weight is what I contribute to my speedy recovery, and now I'm able to walk, do my daily care of Bob, and exercise at the gym for an hour without any of those pains. I can also breath so much better.

Looking back at that picture, I felt such sadness due to I did not realize just how huge I really was. So today I need to apologize to my body, it has given me all these years of trying to keep me going, and only in the last 3 1/2 years have I truly tried to do my part. I have noticed something this week, and I'm sure it sound silly, BUT, when walking I feel so much lighter. :>)

Trying to lose weight is hard, and trying to keep it off is sometimes even harder, but just think of the benefits your body will be giving you.

Wishing everyone a wonderful day, and be good to your body, its the only one you get down here,

Hugs,

Joan

Commitment...ARE YOU??

Commitment leads to action. Action brings your dream closer.

Marcia Wieder

Good Morning Sister W.W.F.F.,

How much commitment are you giving to your weight loss program? Are you just hitting a few roadblocks or it it more like the breaks have gone out and your spiraling down hill at neck break speed.

More and more I hear, ''its the weekends that get me." I can so understand this, due to I was always the very same way until I had to commit to this one thing, and that was this.

For this program to work for me, I have to follow it to the "T". No, this does not mean I can never eat out, it does not mean I can never have a cocktail, it does not mean I cannot take a vacation and have a good time. What it did and still does mean, is this. I have to decide which is more important to me, going out to eat, and asking for that take home box at the beginning of the meal, or will I set there, and even after I hear the sigh continue to pick and eat off the plate until I am miserable and there is nothing left there. Then I leave feeling defeated. When I took my vacation, the decision had already been made between myself and my TISSter, that yes, we will go eat out, but we are going to share the food. The places we ate at just two years ago, we each got a meal and they were big meals, and I would finish mine, feeling as if I needed the jaws of life to remove me from the chair.

I made a commitment to myself back when I joined Weight Watchers going on four years ago. I fell short of that commitment, and fell short many time, but I never gave up. This past January, I decided it was time to recommit to what I set out to do, and it has been hard work, but the results have been amazing.

Sometimes we just need to stop what we are doing due to its not working, and re-start what we know will work. There are going to always be something trying to throw us off track, and you know it does not even have to be food related, it can actually be people trying to throw you off track.

So do you need to make a new commitment? If so, do it this very day, don't allow another day, week, month or year go by. We are strong, and we are worth the effort it takes to reach our goals.

Wishing all a wonderful day.

Hugs,

Joan

GET 'R DONE!!!!!!!!!

Saying is one thing, and doing is another.

Montaigne

Good Monday Morning Sister W.W.F.F.,

I do hope everyone had a really nice weekend, the weather was just about perfect. So hope each of you were able to get some activity points in.

Betty M. just want you to know....we do not or will not give up on anyone....we all get busy from time to time, and with school graduations, vacations and just all the stuff that seems to go on in the Summer, its expected that people can't always make it to a meeting. So never fear, you are stuck with my babbling, until you tell me, ''please remove my name from your e-mail list". So no worries and glad we can be of support.

I saw the above quote in a book I bought some months ago, and I thought to myself, ''oh that is good, I can make that work in my e-mails."

How many times during our life have we uttered the phrase, ''I'll do that tomorrow?" Before I got serious about my weight loss, mine was an every day occurrence. Its the same with exercise, "I should get the clothes I have hung on the treadmill, and I should begin walking on that." Or, tomorrow morning I'm going to set my alarm and be at the gym right when it opens.

What happens, ''oh, I'll do that tomorrow." GUESS WHAT???? IT IS TOMORROW!!!!!!!

No one has to tell me how hard it is to get up at the time I do, and believe me there are days I just had so much rather roll over and forget I even heard the alarm. I know if you have not been exercising like you know you should be that you are not going to believe me when I tell you this....once you get into the habit,you will actually look forward to exercising....I know if someone told me that a few months ago, and I would have had to asked, ''and how much of that wacky weed are you using a day?"

Exercise and good eating habits go hand in hand. I suppose you can lose the weight without exercise, BUT, I don't think you'll be able to keep it gone. That first day, you may think, ''call 911 NOW!!!!!", and that is the reason you begin slowly and also make sure you check with your doctor. The thing you don't want to do is hurt yourself and then have yet another excuse of, ''everytime I try to exercise I hurt myself".

So let me ask you this.....IS today the day you take a step forward to begin an exercise regiment or are you still going to wait until TOMORROW...? Are you going to be a "talker" or a "doer"?

Wishing everyone a wonderful, healthy day,and stay strong,

Hugs,

Joan

We all know the right thing to do...

The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it.

H. Norman Schwarzkoff

Good Morning Sister W.W.F.F.,

I woke up this morning with one thought on my mind. ''Today I am waking up at goal weight". I laid there, just for a few seconds, thinking, ''but I don't really feel any different". I also was having a second thought, but we won't mention that one, ha.

I am thinking that just maybe that is a good thing, ''that I don't feel any different". How many times have I lost a bunch of weight only to always have it in the back of my mind, ''the first thing I'm going to do once I get off this diet is eat this or that"!

I think the reason I don't feel different this morning is due to number 1, I stopped sometime back looking at this as a ''DIET'', it became a ''WAY OF LIFE'' for me. So in my new Way Of Life, I can eat pretty much anything I want. I say pretty much, due to there are something's I know I just have to stay away from. Those pesky trigger foods. We all have them, whether we acknowledge them or not, we all have something that we will eat or drink and the next thing we know we are digging in with both hands.

I sat down read the maintenance book Toni gave me yesterday through twice. I took the test, and I get 3 extra points. Would have been four, but since I jumped right into the 170's, I never had to lose another daily point. In the 180's I got 24 points, now I'm going to get 27 points. It is a bit scary, but I know what has to be done. I know the right way to get it done as well. However, the most amazing part is I have this wonderful group of Lifetime Member's to fall back on, and to be able to ask them questions. I think that is a pretty darn good deal.

If your interested, I have posted pictures in my blog again.

Wishing Everyone a Beautiful Sunday,

Hugs to all,

Joan

Side view.

I wonder if I stick out my tongue, if I'll look like a zipper? lol lol.

Joan & Jenny 06-06-09

If Jenny had not kept nagging me to join Weight Watchers' I would have never known this accomplishment.

Jenny, I thank you from the bottom of my heart, and I also thank you for my middle name, ''BODACIOUS". Yes, that does describe me now.