HappyHappyJoyJoy!

Natural Highs~  1. Falling in love.  

2.  Laughing so hard your face hurts.
 

3.  A hot shower.  

4. No lines at the supermarket 

5.  A special glance. 

6.  Getting mail.  

7.  Taking a drive on a pretty road.  

8.  Hearing your favorite song on the radio.

9.  Lying in bed listening to the rain outside.  

10.  Hot towels fresh out of the dryer.  

11.  Chocolate milkshake (vanilla or strawberry). 

12.  A bubble bath. 

13.   Giggling.  

15.  The beach. 

16.  Finding a 20 dollar bill in your coat from last winter. 

17.  Laughing at yourself. 

 19.  Midnight phone calls that last for hours.  

20.  Running through sprinklers.  

21.  Laughing for absolutely no reason at all.  

22.  Having someone tell you that you’re beautiful.
 23.  Laughing at an inside joke with FRIENDS
 

24.  Accidentally overhearing someone say something nice about you.

25.  Waking up and realizing you still have a few hours left to sleep.
 26.  Your first kiss (either the very first or with a new partner). 

27.  Making new friends or spending time with old ones.
 28.  Playing with a new puppy.
 29.  Having someone play with your hair.
 30.  Sweet dreams.
 31.  Hot chocolate.
 32.  Road trips with friends.
 33.  Swinging on swings.
 34.  Making eye contact with a cute stranger.
 35.  Making chocolate chip cookies.
 36.  Having your friends send you homemade cookies.
 37.  Holding hands with someone you care about. 
 38.  Running into an old friend and realizing that some things (good or bad) never change.  

39.  Watching the expression on someone’s face as they open a much desired present from you.
 40.  Watching the sunrise.
 41.  Getting out of bed every morning and being grateful for another beautiful day.
 42.  Knowing that somebody misses you…
 43.  Getting a hug from someone you care about deeply.
44.  Knowing you’ve done the right thing, no matter what other people think.   

*Then I made up my own, not too original, but fun just the same! LOL~  

45. When you step on the scale and realize that you’ve lost a pound.  

46. Eating vegetables instead of a candy bar  

47. Going to the gym  (drooling on the handsome guys - ha!)  

48. Writing to your buddies on buddyslim. And knowing how much they care about you in return when you get a message from them.  

Anyway, enough babble!  Happy Friday, buddies!!  Love ya all. Have a naturally high weekend!! 

Happy Monday, Buddiessss! ;-)

Tis’ a glorious day!!   A couple of blogs ago, I babbled on and on about how I couldn’t seem to go under a certain weight - how I thought I was stuck at that awful number, cursed and forever dooomed!  (I actually thought my scale was broken LOL~) And because of that, I gave up and gained all my weight back.  Well I am happy, happy and even more happy to announce that the curse has finally been lifted - and no, my scale is not broken, at least I sure hope not.  I broke on through to the other side, and that horrible number was finally gone!  Of course I couldn’t scream for joy like I wanted too because it was early in the morning, and nobody was awake yet, go figure LOL~  But I knew I could come to work and celebrate with my buddies online who are all trying to loose weight, and who all get just as excited as I do.   I didn’t know that one little pound would bring such a happy smile to my face - I feel like a little kid on Christmas morning.  I had no idea that suddenly my dreams of loosing weight could finally become a reality!!

My mom is recovering from her surgery quite nicely as we celebrated her 66th birthday last night with the entire clan!  It was such a fun party, and my mom had a good time, even though she still wasn’t completely up to par.  But it was nice to see a smile on her pretty face.  My little sister brought her boyfriend to the party and they are officially engaged to be married on a cruise in the Bahamas this summer!!! ;-)   I’m sooooo happy for her, as she had gone through a nasty divorce last year and hasn’t been so happy in a long time.   So we had more reasons to celebrate.  I’ll have to share some pictures of the party with you, if I can figure out how to attach them.

Anyway, keep going strong with your weightloss goals, buddies, and don’t give up!!  It can be done, and your dreams of loosing weight will suddenly become your reality!  None of us are cursed - LOL~ We can do this!!    Happy day to all…  

PEACE!

Okay, good luck is finally starting to come my way. Mom was finally released from the hospital on Tuesday, and is now recovering from her surgery comfortably in her home - with her best friend from Utah staying with her to lift her spirits.  She is finally smiling and laughing again, and my heart is filled with joy.   The Lord has blessed us so much, and I am forever grateful!   Now it just seems like everything is going right.  I got on the scale this morning, and lost yet another pound.  So my grand total since I started taking care of myself 2 weeks and 2 days ago has been 10 beautiful, marvelous pounds shed!!  WOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOO~     I am so happy! ;-)  The last time I came down 10 pounds, I gave up because I was stuck on the same weight for over 2 weeks,  and I lost my enthusiasm.  But guess who is NOT giving up this time!?  I’m on a roll, and I have no plans to stop. I already feel so much better about myself because I know that I am doing all that I can do.  And that’s all I can do, right?? 

Well I know my life won’t always be perfect, but I’ll sure enjoy the days when I feel like it is!  ;-)  Today is definitely one of them.   Hope everyone has a happy happy, joy joy day today!!  Keep up the good work, and let’s not give up together, shall we? 

Happy Thursday morning, Buddies

With new diets and new attitudes come new habits. In the past, I’ve always turned to good food and good drinks for comfort - mainly ice cream and rootbeer.  Yesterday, however, I found extreme comfort in a brand new habit.

So….my mother had her colon cancer surgery yesterday. After work, my husband and I went straight to the hospital where my older sister Heidi was waiting, patiently. It was now 5pm, and my mom had been in surgery since noon. Being at work that day was so horrible - I couldn’t get mom out of my mind and it made concentrating at work quite difficult, as you can imagine, even though I knew in my heart that she would be okay.  Anyway, after what seemed like an eternity of waiting, we finally learned that Mom’s surgery was over, but her heartrate was so high they wanted to keep an eye on her for awhile in recovery. So we’d still have to wait. We went downstairs to the cafeteria and had a salad for dinner (which really pleased me!). I was really glad my sister was there - conversation with her was fun and really distracted me.  When we were done, we went back upstairs just in time to see Mom coming out, being wheeled in her bed. She looked so pale, so small, so fragile. I wanted to cry and take her into my arms. But I couldn’t.   The surgery was a success, they ended up removing a small portion of her colon.  Anyhow, without going into details, we stayed with her briefly, but she was so tired we didn’t stay long. 

We came home around 8pm after stopping to buy some healthy groceries for the week.  And that’s when something happened to me that has never happened to me before.  I didn’t walk to the fridge for my comfort foods, as I normally would have done. I left the house and turned to my bike for comfort.  I pedaled around the block with tears blurring my vision, pedaling harder and faster.  I saw myself behind my eyes - a skinny, healthy version of myself.  It felt so great!!  I missed my mom so much, and I know I worry alot more than I should. But man, did it feel good to be outside, wind in my hair (LOL~) and getting some exercise.  When I came home, I felt renewed with a better sense of hope.  I took a nice hot shower then cried somemore in my husband’s arms. These are much better comforts than food, and far less fattening ;-)  I have to say I was quite pleased with myself. 

Not to say that I will never turn to food for comfort ever again. But it’s so much better to turn to healthier things for comfort. It brings a greater peace.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers, buddies.  I’ve appreciated every comment I’ve received, you’re wonderful.  Once again, happy Thursday to you!  Make it a good one as we turn to better and healthier things for comfort…

I’d like to thank all the sweet people who take the time to come and visit my blog and leave their words of wisdom and encouragement and inspiration for me.  I really appreciate having cyberspace friends.  I’ve never felt comfortable talking about weight loss with other people, and there have been many times when I almost checked out of buddyslim and called it quits.  But why do that when there are so many fun and sweet folks out there?   Anyway, just wanted to thank you all who have visited me here in my weightloss land. 

I’m happy today because I stepped on the scale this morning and went down yet another pound!!  I was so afraid that after I stopped doing that crazy diet of mine last week that I would go right back up to my starting weight.  But I did not, and I feel sooooo darn lucky!   It’s proof that eating correctly and getting good exercise really, truly works.   That’s basically what I wanted to add today.  I feel so alive and so healthy, and I find myself never wanting to return to my old habits. NEVER!  I haven’t had one bite of sugar this week, and absolutely no soda. (This is soooo unlike me, by the way.)   I find myself not craving these things so much anymore.  It’s just…wow!  And amazing.  At my brother in law’s birthday party, I skipped the cake and ice cream.  I’ve been riding my bike every day, whether I’m feeling tired or not.  I’ve been parking away from the shopping mall so that I have to walk further to get to the store.  And my six small meals have been more than sufficient for my needs.  I’ve had to teach myself, since my father in law’s death, to stop turning to food for comfort. And I’m slowly learning how… =)

I better end my babbling blog for now. It’s going to be a difficult week, despite all my happiness. My sweet mother will be having surgery tomorrow to see if the chemo/radiation have been effective for her colon cancer. We hope and pray for good news. Bless her heart - she has been fasting for the 3 days in preparation, to make sure she has nothing in her colon when they perform surgery, and man, she has been so strong and so patient. I admire her so much.  It’s hard not to think about her as I go about my work.  I’m sure things will work out, we have faith! 

Have a fun day today, buddy slimmers!! 

Happy Friday!!

What started out as the toughest diet I’ve ever began, became the easiest diet I’ve ever said goodbye to.  So here’s the update on my Day#3.  I had such a hard day yesterday and I was completely starving! By the time I got off work, when my best friend came to see me, I was practically in tears.  She hugged me and took me home for the evening so I could play with her 2 week old gorgeous baby girl, Shori. ;-)   We had a very long talk in her living room about health, weight, and diets in general.  By this time, my brother in law had already called me and said that he had quit the USAMA reset, and he went to get something healthy to eat.  When my hubby came home and joined us, (and stole the gorgeous little baby from me, grrrr!)  we talked long and hard about the diet we were doing.   We didn’t feel healthy. We were tired of being hungry, forgetfull, non-energetic (is that a word?), irritable with one another, draggy and lazy and weak, craving anything and everything we saw other people eating, and not feeling normal.  We didn’t feel the diet was healthy.  If anything, it was quickly teaching us that WE had the power to choose what we wanted to eat, and that WE had the power to eat healthy. We didn’t need a diet to tell us what to do.  We already know!  We just have to do it!!

With that discussion, and talking to my consultant on the telephone, we decided to forget about the diet and get something fun to eat.  We chose Chipotle - chicken, beans and rice.  Healthy, fun, and just plain GOOD!   I LUUUUVE Chipotle.  We had such a great night after that, and my body was so happy and excited.  We watched Laura’s boys play “Guitar Hero” - which is one of the coolest games ever, I must say!!!  We laughed, passed Shori around (well, kind of!)  and just had a good, good time.  Shori was even happy with our new plan LOL~ My body was thanking me with every ounce of strength that it had.  My husband and I stopped at the grocery store on the way home and stocked up on good food, and we danced the night away with a newfound strength and energy. 

So…. that brings me here today, Day#4.  I woke up this morning feeling perfect because I FINALLY got a good nights sleep. I stepped on the scale and had gone down 1 more happy pound. I did my crunches till it ached.  I ate a good breakfast.  Now here I am at work, happy as pie with my new diet plan.  (I’m not even tempted with the word pie LOL~)   I’m done stressing about my weight. I’m just going to eat healthy, and do my favorite work out activities such as bike riding and ice skating, and playing with my eliptical and the pool at 24 hour fitness.  And that’s all I have to say about that…

Happy Happy Joy Joy~ out, living life with a new passion~

Day three of the reset.  Scale showed that I lost a couple more pounds this morning, but I was too hungry to jump up and down. Instead, I picked up the scale in my arms and gave it a huge kiss!!  LOL~  I’m loving this diet, but I can’t wait till the five days are over, and I can begin substituting one shake for a meal of real food.  I had lots of dreams last night about eating - I think I was at my mother’s house on Thanksgiving day with a huge turkey in front of me, my eyes welling up with tears of pure joy and satisfaction!  When I woke up, man - it hurt.   But no worries - this is the difficult part of the diet that doesn’t last long.  I went for a bike ride last night around my neighborhood and I cannot even explain how rejuvenated and alive I felt.   I looooooove my bike so much!!  And I love the fact that I’m finally starting to care about my physical health again.  ;-)  Not that I didn’t care about myself before, but with everything that’s been going on in my life, I’ve been putting my own needs on the back burner and not caring so much about what I eat, or my lack of physical activity.  So it’s really great to be selfish and to care about myself again for a change.  ;-)   After all, you have to be your best self before you can fully give yourself and your services to other people, right? 

Hope your having a good day today, buddies!  Happy Happy Joy Joy girl out~

Okay….second day of the 5 day reset and I am HUNGRY!  LOL~

But it’s a good hunger though, and I woke up happy. And it’s only because I’m used to huge gourmet meals for breakfast. (Okay, maybe not so gourmet, but still…)  My body is saying, “HEY GIRL, what the hell you doin?”  And I’m saying right back, “Relax  bud, (or bod!) and take a pill, chill.”  Let’s loose some weight, baby!!   It feels really good to have control of myself now, to a certain degree.  I’m still waiting for that burst of energy that I’m supposed to have as a result from these shakes. But the only energy I’ve had so far is when I stepped onto the scale this morning and it read 4 pounds lighter. 4 entire pounds, baby!!!   That’s where the real excitement and adrenaline kick in.  And now I’m pumped.  Still hungry, but excited nevertheless!! 

Anyway, just babbling on my diet before I get started on my work day. Lots to do today, it should be a wonderful day! Hope you all enjoy your day and enjoy your bodies that you are now beginning to take control of.  Like Tony says, it feels GGGGRRRREEEAT!!  

Happy Happy Joy Joy signing off…

Good morning buddies!!!

So…. this is the first day of my new low-glycemic diet, Usana.  YAY!  My brother in law, my husband and I are trying this diet together.  I’m pretty dang excited to try something new and fun. ;-)   I’m looking forward to seeing what this diet can do for us.  I will diary my experiences daily and see how we progress.  To begin, the first five days will be the Usana shakes only to replace each meal.  The shakes are not only supposed to help cleanse your body of nasty toxins, but they’re also designed to help eliminate your cravings for sugar.  If that works on me, it will be a miracle.  (LOL~)   Only time will tell.  For our 2 snacks inbetween, we eat lemon or chocolate bars.  Then we take AM and PM Vitamins each day.    After the 5 days of cleanings (which is called the Reset) then we will begin with replacing two meals with the shakes, and having a regular meal each evening. Of course that includes all the vegatables your body can stand.   ;-)  

And that’s the diet.   So far, I’ve had one shake for breakfast and surprisingly, I don’t feel hungry. It’s almost snack time which I dread, because I’ve always hated protein bars. The taste and I don’t necessarily get along with one another.  But for now it’s totally worth it.   I will do anything to look at myself in the mirror with pride and power once again.  I want to be that beautiful girl that my husband married 12 years ago.  ;-)   That’s my goal.

Thanks for all your support and love, buddies.  I hope to re-connect with many of you, and inspire you as you’ve always inspired me.  Have a wonderful, happy day!

 PEACE!