I've got A Secret!

I sort of feel like I've been keeping a secret from some of you, and I don't want to any more!

I have one piece of my regimen that I believe is really helping me get the nutrients I need, feel great, lift more weight, and most especially stay healthy.

Before when I've been down this weight loss road, I got massively sick. I think it is very difficult to lower your calorie intake enough to lose pounds, and not deprive your body of the nutrients it needs. I do everything I can to provide the most nutrients with the lowest calorie intake. This time, I am staying healthy to an extreme degree. I have tons of energy all day, need less sleep at night, and I even think my allergies may be disappearing.

Anyhow, I am restricted from publishing in this blog about the secret. But I want to tell everyone I know about it - I think it's that helpful to overall health. So if you're interested in learning more, please send me a quick email, and I'll tell you everything you need to know!

Thanks for noticing!

As I go through my day I am so very blessed to have lovely friends and aquaintances who are noticing my efforts and give me sweet moments throughout my day.

"You've lost more weight, haven't you?!?"
"You're really looking great!"
"Wow - you can tell you've lost weight!"

It's pretty good to be me lately! So I just wanted to say thank you to all of you who boost me up. It makes a big difference - you never know when I've hit a little rough spot, and your compliment will keep me rolling.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. And especially thank you to the person who said this one the other day "You look so great! I didn't recognize you from behind - I didn't know who you were!"

Thanks for reading and subscribing! Love all ya'll!

Not 1 more minute...

An email from an old friend reminded me of how important relationships are. For me, life's all about relationship. And when I was in my old mindset it wasn't.

I'm no longer willing to give up one month of life, one week, one day, one minute to unhealthiness. I want every moment of life that God chooses to give me for my son, for my family, for my friends, for myself. No food is worth the trade.

It became very real to me that what I was doing was exactly that - trading life for fatty food, for laziness. Who knows what extra strain I was placing on my body and what time that was costing me. Maybe you're thinking, heck, you're only 30 years old, that's a morbid way to think. I wish I had gotten it at 20. Or 15, or 29 and 1/2! But I'm glad I know now.

What are you trading? Life for food? For laziness? For a chocolate bar?

I'd love to hear from you about your trades in email or in the comments section here.

Food glorious food!

What are you eating?

That must be the #1 question I've been asked lately, and the answer is.... Drumroll please.....

Lean protein, nuts, whole grains, fruits and vegetables. That's about it. Really.

I think I've had 1 Dove dark chocolate in the past 2 months, and that was when we were camping on St George Island and had just gone hiking for 3 (!!) hours.

My body loves being fed this way. And in small meals spaced throughout the day -- 150-200 calories at a time. I have caught myself eating too few calories on some days (like yesterday I maybe got 900 - whoops!) and my energy level has definitely paid for it. So that's what I'm working on now - making sure I get enough without turning to something other than... say it with me now....

LEAN PROTEIN... FRUITS.... VEGETABLES.... WHOLE GRAINS!

Rah Rah Rah!

My New Calorie Counting Obsession

I just got my beautiful brand new tea green Polar heart rate monitor, and I am a woman obsessed. I knew it was going to happen. Seems lately everyone at the gym has a new one and is running around comparing.... CALORIES!

This new model doesn't just tell you your heart rate, it goes on ahead and gives total calories burned based on weight, height and age. I'm not sure how accurate it is, but I think it's a good ballpark range.

Anyhootie, put the thing on for its first test - Catherine's 6am spin class. 1 Hour 10 Minutes of hard work, what was one of her more difficult classes because of these crazy hard intervals. (Turn up the tension! Now Go as hard as you can for the entire song?!?!?)

Result: Nine Hundred and Sixteen Calories. SWEET. 916. Love that number. Must translate into fat burned in a big way.

Wanted to see how many calories I burned just walking around during the day, but after my shower couldn't get it to sync up with the strap again, but I did burn another 400+ calories in 2 hours or so. Love that after-workout extra metabolism effect!

Got Blood?

Another happy day in Get Healthy land. Reflecting back on the start of this journey when I got my annual blood work results. Seeing those imperfect results and researching what they meant was like a light switch turned on.



Before result: 2 glasses of wine with dinner - normal

After result: Not a sip of alcohol (not that I'm saying never again.)



Before: Ate large portions of semi-healthy and healthy food

After: Near perfect food consumption.



Before: Exercised regularly 3-4 times/week

After: Dedicated to really sweating it out 5-6 days/week



So, how long has it been for you? A year? 2? 5? If it's been more than one, get on over to your doc and get checked out. And don't just trust them for explanations, really learn about what all the numbers mean - especially any that are abnormal. It's information about your body that you need to know.



Oh, and by the way, I HATE having blood drawn. Have to lay down every time so I don't just pass out on the floor. So, no excuses for me, no excuses for you!

A size is a size is a size....

I've gotten some email and in person comments about my mentioning that I would like to end up a size 6.







Just in case you think otherwise, I want to let you know that this is not a big deal goal for me. First and foremost in my mind is to feel great. To not feel like I'm lugging around a giant dog food bags worth of excess. And sizes vary greatly from store to store, designer to designer.






Second comes body fat percentage. I'm aiming for 20%, right now I'm around 36%. What does 20% fat mean in terms of size and total weight? I'm not exactly sure. And maybe I'll end up wanting 18%. It's uncharted territory for me.






The size 6 is a guess on the smaller size, because after all if you aim for the moon and miss you land amongst the stars.

Can't Wait for George's Alys Beach!

Just got back from the gym where I snagged a copy of the menu for the soon to be opened George's at Alys Beach - the new venture for George and Ann Hartley.

Wow am I excited and impressed! Now, we all know by now that I love food...MMM food. And I also love going out to eat - no dishes, fun with family and friends YAY. Eating out on my current food plan has been a bit difficult. I can go most any place and find something suitable, but there is usually only one choice, take it or leave it.

So at George's the menu is divided into "Misbehave" and "Behave" sections across the board - appetizers, entrees, etc. And I can't wait to try a bunch of things .....

Ginger Chicken...... Wood Grilled Tofu on veggie soba noodles.... whole wheat wraps.... Wild Salmon!!!

I could go on and on and on, (and ON!) But I wont. Suffice to say I'm sad to miss the grand opening on Monday, I'll have to check it out the next week. Ya'll South Waltonites head over there and report back on what I should try first!

The Scale... Friend or foe?

The scale seems to have a pretty bad rap these days. People disdain them, avoid them, shirk them. Oh no! Time to weigh. At my doctor's office they don't even weigh you at a regular appointment, they just ask you for your weight! Why all the hate for a simple machine?

Reality. A scale is simply a device that reports a fact. Your total weight at the moment of use. Why does everyone want to hide from this truth? Because they don't want to face the consequences of what having extra weight means. But does the scale give these consequences? NO. You do. You are in control.

As I look back at my history, when I have been putting on pounds, I was avoiding the scale. When I'm losing, it's like the thing is my best friend - I run to it every morning to have it give me the good news. So now I am going to keep weighing myself for the foreseeable future. I need to and want to know the facts about my body. Are the efforts I'm putting in working or not? Do I need to make adjustments or not?

Have you been hiding from the scale? Today is the day to step up and see the truth. You can handle it, I promise.

A Loaf Of Bread...

Weight: 208.8 Down 20.1!


According to Paul at the gym this morning, 5 pounds of fat is about the size of a loaf of bread.

Ever since I learned this little tid bit I have been a little bit obsessive about it... i.e. standing in front of the mirror trying to figure out where the 8(!) loaves I am still losing are located... staring at the loaves in the grocery store..... I just don't see it. 5 loaves maybe. MAX!

Just goes to show how out of sync my mind is with the reality of my body.

On top of that obsession, I have convinced myself that it is a good idea to wear a weighted vest. Got started with 20 pounds loaded into it, since that is about how much I've lost so far. Holy MOLY! It is heavy. Heavy heavy HEAVY! The first question I've been pondering is "How in the world did I live for so long toting that much more on my body?" With the obvious second question - "How great am I going to feel when I get rid of twice that much?!?!?!"

Answer: AWESOME! TERRIFIC! and FANTASTIC!


Anyhow, the vest lasted for about 2 hours... my body hurt in the joints, going down stairs was HARD, and I was just downright cranky (sorry Dave!). I had to take it off to regain my sanity!

I highly recommend trying a weight vest if you're in weight loss mode. It gives a real sense of where you're at in the process. Plus you burn a ton more calories just going through the day. Much more fun than stuffing loaves of bread under your clothes!

Welcome to Get Slender Now!

How do you get what you want?

I just finished some reading on obesity research, and even though we all know that Americans are getting fatter and fatter and fatter, the black and white statistics are still painful. 56% of the population (now probably more) is overweight by BMI (body mass index), 20% are full fledged obese. That's one in every five people you meet. One in EVERY FIVE!

Somehow, I don't believe that this is what people want. I don't believe the woman I met last week at a business meeting enjoys taking up 2 seats on an airplane. I don't believe the man I just saw at a restaurant wants to wear the Extra EXTRA large shirt. I know I didn't.

Six weeks ago I finally woke up from the coma I was in. The blood test results came in, and I had elevated liver enzymes. Basically this means that my liver was working harder than necessary. While my very nice nurse practitioner told me that maybe it was because of the vitamins I was taking, somehow I doubted that. I went home and looked at my test from last year and saw that the levels had been elevated slightly then, but were not both out of range as they were 6 weeks ago.

So I started doing some research, and I didn't have to look far to find that elevated liver enzymes can be caused by excess fat in the liver. Being overweight by about 60 pounds had finally caught up to me. The wake up call was ringing loud and clear.

Decision time: I decided to lose 10 pounds over the next month before my recheck and lo-and-behold, I lost 15. Results? All levels in normal range. Side effect of all that healthy eating & exercise: the desire to lose all the excess and become the slender person I've been hiding.

So, back to my question - How do you get what you want? Well, I believe you get what you want by helping others get what they want.

For me, I want to lose another 40 pounds, obtain 20% body fat, and wear a size 6.

So I'm starting this blog to inspire the 20% of America to do what I did and make a change. It is possible. It is attainable, and I want to help. I'll be writing about my experience, my trials, my successes. What I think about different plans and ideas. What works and doesn't work for me. If you're still reading this, hopefully I'll inspire you to get off of the chair, get moving, get eating well and get healthy.