100

Hey 100 followers!!! That's pretty cool, don't ya think?

What can I say about today? It was a new day. Was I productive? In some ways.

I am going to be off work til November 1 due to some health issues so I would like will use this time to refocus on me, my health, my weight loss efforts, my mindset and my determination. 

Tomorrow is not Day 1. To say tomorrow is Day 1 discounts all the last year and half that I have worked so hard and I refuse to do that.  Sure....I am nowhere near as far along as I wanted to be at this point - but I am still over 30lbs down from my starting point. Never have I lost weight and kept it off this long before.  Sure, it's not enough weight, but it is a huge change from the losing/gaining cycle I was trapped in before.

Melissa - you keep me going every day girl...hang in there.

No day is so bad it can't be fixed with a nap. ~Carrie Snow

I slept most of today, it did help my mood and my patience.

I know how to take care of myself, I know what I need to do to feel better -  I just can't seem to actually do it. You know, I'm a pretty smart and independent woman but I just can't seem to get my sh*t together the last few months and it seems to be taking all my energy to just get through the basic stuff.

Tomorrow is another day and God willing another chance to get it right.

Melissa - keep going strong :)

Winner and Wireless Issues

The winner of the The Decaf Diet book is Marisa !! Please send me your info and I'll get it in the mail to you.

Last night, our wireless router died - we've had it about 10 years so I guess I can't complain - but we had no network cable so that meant no internet so I couldn't blog. I did have a post saved to upload today but somehow Live Writer ate it or hid it or something.  And this morning I am not feeling particularly clever or entertaining....so this is it folks.

I am not feeling well today, emotionally, mentally or physically and really - am not caring about much today.  I will get over it - tomorrow is a new day, right?

Hope you are all having an awesome day and doing something good for you. Hugs.

Not Taking The Easy Road

This blog post is about my friend Melissa. I've known Melissa about 10 years or so and in that time she has become one of my closest and dearest friends. We met at work when we were assigned to a project together. We are about as different as can be in terms of temperament and personalities, but she is an amazingly strong woman who has taught me so much about myself and my health.

She is the one who gave me information about PCOS and insulin resistance and started my search for a doctor who would actually help me with, rather than blame me for, my weight loss issues.

Melissa has had her own struggles with weight loss and has now decided to take a huge step towards changing her lifestyle and becoming healthy. She is spending 8 weeks away from her family at the Fitness Ridge Resort in Utah, also known as the Biggest Loser Resort.

While she's away, she's going to be blogging about her experience and I know she would appreciate all the support and encouragement she can get...so go check out her blog, say hi and follow her on this part of her journey.

We've made a pact that we will both blog every day to support each other and for all the help and friendship and love Mel has given me, blogging each day and reading her blog each day is a small token of my appreciation, plus....I know it will help me to find my way again.


Her blog is at: Not Taking The Easy Road

The Decaf Diet: Is Caffeine Making You Fat?

I was sent this book by the author, Eugene Wells to read and review on my blog.
A basic overview, the author describes and discusses the effects of caffeine on hormones, insulin levels and weight gain.  I was already aware of this information from my endocrinologist and some other blogs that I read, but I have to say that Mr. Wells does an excellent job of explaining this in layman's terms and has a huge amount of references to back up his research.  I also like his writing style, it's chatty and comfortable, and although a little technical in places, it's certainly not confusing medical jargon.

Mr. Wells explains two approaches, either cut out caffeine or find a way to fit it into your lifestyle by making other changes to offset caffeine's damaging effects.

I have Type II diabetes so  I found the section on insulin control to be the most interesting and useful to me.

Many times in the past, I've gone cold turkey and cut out caffeine completely, suffered the headaches, the irritableness and the discomfort, once for up to a year, then like any other addiction, one Diet Pepsi and I was a goner again.  For me, coffee and tea don't seem to have the same lure or temptation as a Diet Pepsi or chocolate and it doesn't take too long to become full blown addicted again. 

Definitely, this book has started me thinking about the moderation and control approach to caffeine addiction and I think I'm going to give it a try.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Funnily enough, there was an episode of Dr. Oz yesterday about a 28 day plan to cut out "soda" because of the double whammy of caffeine and sugar. 

Thanks to Mr. Wells for sharing his book with me and as a way to pay it forward - I'll send it to someone else out there in blog land who is caffeine-addicted and thinks it may help them. Just leave a comment on this post and I'll do a random draw thingy on Tuesday September 28th.